Throughout British history there have been some iconic figures. From monarchs and inventors, to sporting champions and stars of the screen, the past of the country has been embellished with some real British treasures. This blog reveals the salary some of our favourite pillars of British heritage would receive in today’s world.
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE
Stirling Moss, born in 1929, is a British former Formula One racing driver. He won 212 of the 529 races he entered and was an inductee to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Stirling’s career began on September 18th 1948, the day after his 19th birthday. He entered his first race at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in West Sussex, driving a 500cc Cooper-JAP. Stirling made a name for himself during his first outing on the tarmac, winning the three-lap race by a clear 30 seconds against his second-place competitor.
Stirling was a huge advocate of British motorcars, commenting ‘better to lose honourably in a British car than win in a foreign one.’ Some of the British greats Stirling drove include Cooper 500s, ERA cars, Lotus, Aston Martin and Jaguar.
Stirling retired in 1961 and was Formula One’s highest paid driver, having earned around £30,000 per year – a princely sum for the era he was racing in. If Stirling was a F1 professional today his annual salary would be somewhere in the region of £40 million, the same as six-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
Florence Nightingale
Despite being born in Florence, Italy, in 1820, Florence Nightingale is a gem in the crown of British history. Known as a social reformer and statistician, it is her nursing work that Florence is famous for as she single-handedly founded the modern nursing profession as it is known today.
Between 1853 and 1856 Florence rose to prominence during the Crimean War. Her role was to manage and train nurses to heal and comfort the soldiers injured during battle. Christened ‘The Lady with the Lamp’, unbeknownst to Florence this moniker became hers during the war as she visited soldier patients at night to check on them. Her compassion and medical prowess during this period boosted popularity in nursing as a profession.
Florence became an icon of Victorian culture during her lifetime – not only due to her medical work. After the Crimean War Florence spent much of her time driving for professionalism of nursing roles and providing teaching and training facilities.
Today, the nursing profession has lost the spark Florence ignited back in the mid-1800s. Today, many nurses feel undervalued, underpaid and overworked. The average salary of a Registered Nurse as of 2019 is £24,700. Given Florence’s experience her modern-day equivalent role would be Clinical Nurse Manager and Trainer which has a salary of £40,000 per annum.
Bobby Moore, OBE
Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore was born in Barking, Essex, in 1941. As a teenager Bobby signed professional forms for West Ham United and donned a shirt for the team against Manchester United at the age of 17. From this day on Bobby was the central defender for West Ham.
Two years later, Bobby was called up for the England Under-23 squad. He was the only uncapped member heading to the World Cup finals in Chile and made his debut in 1962 when England took on Peru in Lima, winning 4 – 0. Fast forward to 1963 and a 22-year-old Bobby captained for England in his 12th appearance for them following the retirement and injury of two other players.
The captaincy role became permanent in 1964 and led Bobby to the 1966 FIFA World Cup. England went up against West Germany in the final held at Wembley Stadium. England took the win 4-2 and were crowned champions of the world. Sir Alf Ramsey, manager of the England squad at the time commented at a later date, “I can say it would have been impossible [to win the World Cup] without Bobby Moore as my captain. He was the heartbeat of the team in 1966.”
Today, England’s captain Harry Kane receives a rumoured weekly salary of £200,000 a week from his club, Tottenham Hotspur. In 1966 West Ham were paying Bobby £10 a week; providing him with an annual salary of £480. In comparison, Harry Kane is set to receive £9.6 million per year.