Figure 1.--This school photograph shows a London grammar school about 1975. This is a first year class. The boys wore grey knee socks with the school color on top bands. The girls wore white knee socks.

English wearing shorts generally wore grey knee socks, or turn-over-top socks as the British might say. We have noted one image of an English boyweaing red kneesocks, but believe that this was unusual. Almost all boys wore grey knee socks of various shades. I am not sure why grey was so common. Probably like grey shirts and shorts, it was a color that did not show dirt and matched the grey shorts and shirts. While there was little differce in the color of the kneesocks worn by English boys, there was some differentiation in the turn-over-tops. Many schools employed stripes or band in the school colors. It was mostly private scholls that employed the school colors on the turn-over-top cuffs. British boys of any age never wore white socks with shorts, except for sports. English boys never wore white socks, except for cricket, as white socks, both ankle and knee socks, were generally worn by girls and thus seen as girls' socks.

Grey

English boys wearing short trousers generally wore grey knee socks, or turn-over-top socks as the British might say. We have noted one image of an English boy wearing red kneesocks, but believe that this was unusual and as it was an illustration perhaps fictitious. Almost all boys wore grey kneesocks, albeit of various shades. It is almost as if there was a national school uniform. No other school uniform garment was so structly chosen in a single color. Grey short trousers were very common, but there were some other colors. I am not sure why grey was so common. Probably like grey shirts and shorts, it was a color that did not show dirt and matched the grey shorts and shirts. Nor am I sure why there were no other colors worn. While there was little differce in the color of the kneesocks worn by English boys, there was some differentiation in the turn-over-tops. Some boys also wore ankle soks, almost always grey ankle scoks.

Grey Knee Socks with Decorative Tops

We notice school socks with dcoative trim, mostly colored bands. They were mostly grey socks The second type of turn-over-top socks was ones with colored bands and more rarely a solid colored cuff. These were mostly school socks done as part of school uniforms, primarily private school uniforms. This might include Anglican schools which operate as kind of low-cost private schools. In Britain schools with a religious association were eligible for state funding. They tended to have uniforms, but less elborate ones than the state schools. Children attending state schools might have uniforms as wel, mostly beginning with the 1960s. Boys at state schools were more lilely to wear plain grey knee socks, often without turn-over-tops let alone colored bands. The colored bands were done in the school colors. You might see the socks at the major chin stores and leasr in basic colors. But the more complicated patterns were only available in shops are the more up-market stores handling a schools uniform. These colors were also used for the caps, blazers, and ties. As thus there were a wide variety of colors used, but the socks themselves were almost always grey. We are not sure just when these school socks first appeared, but we begin to notice them in the 1920s. They became a popular part of school uniforms, especially schools that were serious about the uniform. We do not see these socks in America and other countries to any extent, primarily because there were so few schools with British-style uniforms, but there were a few privare schools.

Colored Knee Socks

Boys at some schools in England may have worn colored kneesocks. I am not sure about this. I have never noted it, but it seems likely that they may have been some. Boys did wear colored soks for sports. In many cases these were striped socks.

White

British boys of any age never wore white socks with shorts, except for sports. English boys did wear white socks for cricket. Generally boys wore white flannel long pants for cricket. Some younger boys wore white shorts and white kneesocks. White socks were, however, very commonly wore white socks. Girls wore both white ankle socks and white kneesocks. At some schools girls wore grey kneesocks like the boy, but white socks seem to have been a much more common option.