English units of measurement
English units of measurement evolved from Anglo-Saxon and ancient Roman units of measurement, and were used in England up to 1826, when many were redefined or superseded by Imperial units. Various standards have applied to English units at different times, in different places, and for different applications.
Use of the term "English units" can be ambiguous, as, in addition to the meaning used in this article, it is sometimes used to refer to the units of the descendant Imperial system as well to those of the descendant system of United States customary units.
The two main sets of English units were the Winchester Units, used from 1495 to 1587, as affirmed by King Henry VII, and the Exchequer Standards, in use from 1588 to 1825, as defined by Queen Elizabeth I.
In England, the systems of English units were replaced by the Imperial system in 1826, under a Weights and Measures Act passed in 1824 which retained many though not all of the unit names and redefined many of the definitions. In the US, being independent from the British Empire decades before the 1824 reforms, English units were standardized and adopted in 1832.
History
Very little is known of the units of measurement used in the British Isles prior to Roman colonisation in the 1st century AD. During the Roman period, Roman Britain relied on Ancient Roman units of measurement. During the Anglo-Saxon period, the North German foot of was the nominal basis for other units of linear measurement. The foot was divided into 4 palms or 12 thumbs. A cubit was 2 feet, an elne 4 feet. The rod was 15 Anglo-Saxon feet, the furlong 10 rods. An acre was 4 rods × 40 rods, i.e. 160 square rods or 36,000 square Anglo-Saxon feet. However, Roman units continued to be used in the construction crafts, and reckoning by the Roman mile of 5,000 feet continued, in contrast to other Germanic countries which adopted the name "mile" for a longer native length closer to the league. From the time of Offa King of Mercia until 1526 the Saxon pound, also known as the moneyers' pound was the fundamental unit of weight.Prior to the enactment of a law known as the "Composition of Yards and Perches" some time between 1266 and 1303, the English system of measurement had been based on that of the Anglo-Saxons, who were descended from tribes of northern Germany. The Compositio redefined the yard, foot, inch, and barleycorn to of their previous value. However, it retained the Anglo-Saxon rod of 15 x feet and the acre of 4 × 40 square rods. Thus, the rod went from 5 old yards to new yards, or 15 old feet to new feet. The furlong went from 600 old feet to 660 new feet. The acre went from 36,000 old square feet to 43,560 new square feet. Scholars have speculated that the Compositio may have represented a compromise between the two earlier systems of units, the Anglo-Saxon and the Roman.
The Norman conquest of England introduced just one new unit: the bushel. William the Conqueror, in one of his first legislative acts, confirmed existing Anglo-Saxon measurement, a position which was consistent with Norman policy in dealing with occupied peoples. The Magna Carta of 1215 stipulates that there should be a standard measure of volume for wine, ale and corn, and for weight, but does not define these units.
Later development of the English system was by defining the units in laws and by issuing measurement standards. Standards were renewed in 1496, 1588, and 1758. The last Imperial Standard Yard in bronze was made in 1845; it served as the standard in the United Kingdom until the yard was redefined by the international yard and pound agreement in 1959. Over time, the English system had spread to other parts of the British Empire.
Timeline
Selected excerpts from the bibliography of Marks and Marking of Weights and Measures of the British Isles- 1215 Magna Carta — the earliest statutory declaration for uniformity of weights and measures
- 1335 8 & 9 Edw. 3. c. 1 — First statutory reference describing goods as avoirdupois
- 1414 2 Hen. 5. Stat. 2. c. 4 — First statutory mention of the Troy pound
- 1495 12 Hen. 7. c. 5 — New Exchequer standards were constructed, including Winchester capacity measures defined by Troy weight of their content of threshed wheat by stricken measure.
- 1527 Hen VIII — Abolished the Tower pound
- 1531 23 Hen. 8. c. 4 — Barrel to contain 36 gallons of beer or 32 of ale; kilderkin is half of this; firkin is half again.
- 1532 24 Hen. 8. c. 3 — First statutory references to use of avoirdupois weight.
- 1536 28 Hen. 8. c. 4 — Added the tierce
- 1588 — A new series of Avoirdupois standard bronze weights, with new Troy standard weights in nested cups, from 256 oz to oz in a binary progression.
- 1601–1602 — Standard bushels and gallons were constructed based on the standards of Henry VII and a new series of capacity measures were issued.
- 1660 12 Cha. 2. c. 24 — Barrel of beer to be 36 gallons, taken by the gauge of the Exchequer standard of the ale quart; barrel of ale to be 32 gallons; all other liquors retailed to be sold by the wine gallon
- 1689 1 Will. & Mar. c. 24 — Barrels of beer and ale outside London to contain 34 gallons
- 1695 7 Will. 3. c. 24 — Irish Act about grain measures decreed: unit of measure to be Henry VIII's gallon as confirmed by Elizabeth I; i.e. cubic inches; standard measures of the barrel, half-barrel, bushel, peck, and gallon lodged in the Irish Exchequer; and copies were provided in every county, city, town, etc.
- 1696 8 & 9 Will. 3. c. 22 — Size of Winchester bushel "every round bushel with a plain and even bottom being ″ wide throughout and 8″ deep".
- 1706 6 Ann. c. 11 — Act of Union decreed the weights and measures of England to be applied in Scotland, whose burgs were to take charge of the duplicates of the English Standards sent to them.
- 1706 6 Ann. c. 27 — Wine gallon to be a cylindrical vessel with an even bottom 7″ diameter throughout and 6″ deep from top to bottom of the inside, or holding 231 in3 and no more.
- 1713 12 Ann. c. 17 — The legal coal bushel to be round with a plain and even bottom, inches from outside to outside and to hold 1 Winchester bushel and 1 quart of water.
- 1718 5 Geo. 1. c. 18 — Decreed Scots Pint to be exactly 103 in3.
- 1803 43 Geo. 3. c. 151 — Referred to wine bottles making about 5 to the wine gallon
- 1824 5 Geo. 4. c. 74 — Weights and Measures Act 1824 completely reorganized British metrology and established Imperial weights and measures; defined the yard, troy and avoirdupois pounds and the gallon, and provided for a 'brass' standard gallon to be constructed.
- 1825 6 Geo. 4. c. 12 — Delayed introduction of Imperial weights and measures from 1 May 1825 to 1 January 1826.
- 1835 5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 63 — Weights and Measures Act 1835 abolished local and customary measures, including the Winchester bushel; made heaped measure illegal; required trade to be carried out by avoirdupois weight only, except for bullion, gems and drugs ; decreed that all forms of coal were to be sold by weight and not measure; legalised the 'stone' as, the 'hundredweight' as, and the ton as 20 hundredweight, or.
- 1853 16 & 17 Vict. c. 29 — Permitted the use of decimal bullion weights.
- 1866 29 & 30 Vict. c. 82 — Standards of Weights, Measures, and Coinage Act 1866 transferred all duties and standards from the Exchequer to the newly created Standards Department of the Board of Trade.
- 1878 41 & 42 Vict. c. 49 — Weights and Measures Act 1878 defined the Imperial standard yard and pound; enumerated the secondary standards of measure and weight derived from the Imperial standards; required all trade by weight or measure to be in terms of one of the Imperial weights or measures or some multiple part thereof; abolished the Troy pound.
- 1963 c. 31 — Weights and Measures Act 1963 abolished the chaldron of coal, the fluid drachm and minim, discontinued the use of the quarter, abolished the use of the bushel and peck, and abolished the pennyweight.
Length
| English unit | SI | Traditional definition | Origin of term |
| Poppyseed | 2.12 or 1.69 mm | = or of a barleycorn | Agricultural usage |
| Line | 2.12 mm | = of a barleycorn,. | Agricultural usage |
| Barleycorn | 8.47 mm | = of an inch, the notional base unit under the Composition of Yards and Perches. | Agricultural usage |
| Digit | 19.05 mm | = inch | Anthropic |
| Finger | 22.23 mm | = inch | Anthropic |
| Inch | 25.4 mm | 3 barleycorns | Likely anthropic |
| Nail | 57.15 mm | 3 digits = inches = yard | Textile usage |
| Palm | 76.2 mm | 3 inches | Anthropic |
| Hand | 101.6 mm | 4 inches | Anthropic |
| Shaftment | 165 mm or 152 mm | Width of the hand and outstretched thumb, inches before 12th century, 6 thereafter | Anthropic |
| Link | 201.2 mm | 7.92 inches or one 100th of a chain. | Surveying |
| Span | 228.6 mm | Width of the outstretched hand, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger: 9 inches. | Anthropic |
| Foot | 304.8 mm | Prior to the Anglo-Saxon invasions, the Roman foot of was used. The Anglo-Saxons introduced a North-German foot of, divided into 4 palms or 12 thumbs, while the Roman foot continued to be used in the construction crafts. In the late 13th century, the modern foot of 304.8 mm was introduced, equal to exactly Anglo-Saxon foot. | Anthropic |
| Cubit | 457.2 mm | From fingertips to elbow, 18 inches. | Anthropic |
| Yard | 0.914 m | 3 feet = 36 inches, the practical base unit, defined as the length of the prototype bar held by the Crown or Exchequer. | Surveying |
| Ell | 1.143 m | From fingertip of outstretched arm to opposite shoulder, 20 nails = yard or 45 inches. Mostly for measuring cloth. | Textile usage |
| Fathom | 1.829 m | 6 feet, distance between arms outstretched, from fingertip to fingertip, on a 6-foot-tall person. | Nautical |
| Rod | 5.0292 m | Also called a perch or pole: a measure used for surveying land and in architecture. The length of the rod was declared to be feet or yards in the Composition of Yards and Perches. The square pole is commonly used as a measurement for Allotment gardens. It may have originated from the typical length of a medieval ox-goad. | Likely agricultural, could be from surveying |
| Chain | 20.116 m | Four linear rods. Named after the length of surveyor's chain used to measure distances until quite recently. Any of several actual chains used for land surveying and divided in links. Gunter's chain, introduced in the 17th century, is. | Surveying |
| Skein | 109.73 m | A textile measurement, defined typically as 96 ells, or a sixth of a hank. | Textile usage |
| Furlong | 201.168 m | Notionally the distance a plough team could furrow without rest, but actually a measure of 40 rods or 600 feet prior to the Composition of Yards and Perches; 40 rods or 660 feet since then. | Agricultural usage |
| Hank | 658.38 m | A textile measurement, composed of 6 skeins. | Textile usage |
| Mile | 1.61 km | 5280 feet or 1760 yards. Originally the Roman mile, 1000 paces, later reckoned as 5000 feet, but adjusted to 5280 feet in 1593 to account for the differences introduced to these methods of reckoning by the Composition of Yards and Perches. | Likely for surveying |
| League | 4.83 km | Notionally an hour's march, but usually reckoned as three miles. Approximate length of the traditional "mile" in German and Scandinavian countries. | Either nautical or for surveying |
| Spindle | 13.16 km | A textile measurement for cotton and linen, composed of 20 hanks. | Textile usage |