Figure 1.-- This boy was from Worcester he seems to be looking at a photogrph album. He wears a black knee pants suit with long stockings. We are not sure when the photograph was taken, but would guess the 1880s. |
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We know that long stockings were commonly worn in England. We also see kneesocks appearing substantially before they were common in America. At this time, we have little information indicating the prevalence of long stockings and kneesocks in the late 19th century. We see many boys wearing long stockings. An early example is an unidentified boy in the 1860s.
We note another unidentified child wear long stockings, we think in the 1870s.
Long stocking in England do not seem as pervasive as they were in some other countries like America and Germany. We do know that long dark stockings were considered more suitable for older boys and short white socks for younger boys. An English family that we have acquired some information on this and it is shown in how two brothers were dressed about 1900. After the turn of the 20th century, especially with the foundation of Baden Powell's Boy Scouts, kneesocks rapidly replaced long stockings in Britain. We note an English boy wearing white long stockings in 1916. By the 1920s it was unusual to see an English boy wearing long stockings. Girls did continue to wear them. Quite a few girls' schools required girls to wear long stockings into the 1930s and even the 40s.
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