MGMLion: Good points, Bill. But by "smallish amounts" as you copy/paste above, I meant of the actual money, rather than of the goods it could purchase. It seems that £10 was regarded as a reasonable tip (ie a 'smallish amount') for a young man to receive at the end of a visit to older relatives.

This would be a "tip" or present from very WEALTHY relatives back then. Imagine a family with similar resources to those of the 16 year old English guy and his Russian girlfriend at private school in UK who recently ran away to the Caribbean and stayed there for a considerable time, using their personal credit cards with limits set by their families. A £1,000 present for people with those resources would be nothing. In fact I know of an 18 year old locally who was given £5,000 for passing his "A" levels.

Who knows what the families of people such as Russian oligarchs/ British Hedge Fund managers etc give as tips or presents to their kids these days?

In 1800 a private soldier was paid 1 shilling a day, or 5p. A weekly wage of 35p, or using your quoted multiplier, about £45 per week.

A colonel of foot was paid 22s 6d per day, 0r £7.875 per week, £1023.75 at your quoted multiplier, around 22 times a private's wage. A colonel of cavalry was paid about half as much again, or an equivalent of £1500 per week. Your lad's tip would have been nearly equal to the weekly wage of a cavalry colonel, so not a "smallish amount" to any but the real top echelons of society.

Military officers back then, even senior ones, were not considered "wealthy" by any means, and most of them, to be able to afford their social obligations, needed private income as well as their military pay. The family in Mansfield Park would have had income many times that of even a colonel of cavalry so a £10 tip in their circles would be nothing.

So as others have pointed out, you just can't do a linear comparison,as the structure of society has changed, BUT you do need to consider whether a modern Hedge Fund manager who's just drawn £60 million profits from his fund, might not consider dropping a thousand quid on his nephew a fairly modest present.