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Financing the Upbringing and Education of a Bourgeois Family (1860-1890)

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For the articled clerks’ exam in November 1873, 4 thalers were written down as fees. The son had to cover the subsequent stay in a small district court town with 45 thalers per month; after his return to the parental home he once again received a quarterly allowance of 50 thalers. In spring of 1876 he joined the Berlin Infantry Guard Regiment after having taken riding lessons at a cost of 30 thalers. The cost of the year in military service amounted to a total of 1,966 marks, of which 1,620 marks was devoted to maintenance outside of the parental home, 173.5 marks to the purchase of pieces of the uniform, the remainder to additional allowances for maneuvers and suchlike. After the year in service the son participated in the first military exercise right away, which required 330 marks; the officer’s uniform purchased thereafter, including the sword knot, cost 342 marks. Subsequently, he returned to his parents’ home once more, receiving the same pocket money as before. What can be added, looking beyond the year, is that in 1878 he first participated in a military exercise, listed at 218 marks, and then passed his doctoral exam in June. The printing of the dissertation and the exam fees together with gratuities cost his father 439 marks; apart from that he paid 260 marks for a merry doctoral feast, attended also by the examiners. In early May of 1879 the son also passed the examination for junior judge, for which 30 marks are entered in the books.

The entire education of a jurist, including all examinations and two military exercises took 7 years and 7 months; accordingly, not even a quarter of a year was wasted. The cost of the legal education without expenditures for military services added up to 7,220 marks; including the year of service and military exercises, it amounted to 10,076 marks. Factored into this are the amounts that the son received for clothing and small expenditures during his stay at the parental home, but none of the costs incurred by his presence in the household.

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