# How could World War II have impoverished a wealthy Briton? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2025, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-world-war-ii-have-impoverished-a-wealthy-briton/1022683 "2025-09-02T18:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-world-war-ii-have-impoverished-a-wealthy-briton/1022683/61 "2025-09-27T13:24:49Z")
If you have some evidence that no American shipowners became poorer because of patriotism, now is the time to present it. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-world-war-ii-have-impoverished-a-wealthy-briton/1022683/62 "2025-09-27T13:26:44Z")
Or if you have evidence that American shipholders became poorer because of patriotism, this is the time to present it. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-world-war-ii-have-impoverished-a-wealthy-briton/1022683/63 "2025-09-27T13:36:13Z")
I’m almost tempted to take you up on that suggestion, but since you are deliberately eliding the count from “no American”, why bother? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2025, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-world-war-ii-have-impoverished-a-wealthy-briton/1022683/64 "2025-09-27T21:11:59Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > All of this vanished after WW2. > > The easy, mostly unearned, money dried up and the cost of staff rose enormously. Gone were the days when staff lived on the estate and were happy to have little more than a bed, clothes, and to be fed. Most of it was already disappearing though. Agricultural income in the UK dropped by more than half in the 1800s. UK farmers couldn’t compete with Americans and others growing massive amounts of wheat and huge cattle herds. There was a collapse in crop prices which only got worse. WWI was a blip because suddenly crops were worth more. Rectories’ income was based on agricultural tithes, which is why being an English curate was no longer a path to wealth (or often even a comfortable living) by the 20th century. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-could-world-war-ii-have-impoverished-a-wealthy-briton/1022683.md?page=3)