Thanks for all your replies, everyone.
As Stan says, the newspaper does indeed say £81 (eighty one) 9 shillings.
It could be a typo as annieoburns suggests, but the only reason to think that is, I'd have thought, that it was a huge sum of money.
Interesting point about whether it would have been paper money or coin.
He's a fascinating chap who seems to have had quite a colourful life. One of the ones at the top of my list of ancestors I'd like to have a talk with when they invent time travel.
