How did the “Income” of rich people mentioned in the literature of 19th-century work?

Question

When reading a book like the Count of Monte Chriato or Scherlock Holmes, they mention that this and this person has an income of 4000 pounds and that person will have this and this income when she marries.

How does that work? Most of these people do not do any actual job.

In: 669

Answer 1

The question of a book character having an income of X thousand a year was a shorthand for contemporary readers to instantly see how really rich one man was against another. Quite how the gossiping other characters knew these figures is never really revealed.