Figure 1.--British boys wear grey kneesocks. Some often private schools have socks with decorative colored tops, commoly matching the jumper (sweater) trim. At this school they have jumpers with colored trim, but the boys wear plain grey kneesocks.

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. An English reader provides us some insight on the grey used in hosiery and other garments, "I think grey - for shorts,socks and shirts was for the reasons of that colour being less likely to show the dirt. Girls (who were supposed to be less liable to get dirty in the playground) almost always wore white socks and blouses. White shirts were stipulated for school trips and carol concerts at my primary school where playing was not on the agenda! My Mum always wanted me in a white shirt for Sunday school or when we went visiting because they were seen as more formal and neat. For instance you would never see an adult man wearing a grey shirt as far as I can recall - but white shirts were worn by them to work - the professional class anyway (hence the term "blue collar workers" for labourers and such and "white collar workers" for office workers. I hated wearing white shirts mainly because I found them cold, but also because when wearing them I had to be on my best behaviour so they were definately not playclothes!I have also yet to tell you of the time my Grandmother bought me white socks to wear one Christmas which was definately not to my liking as white socks were for girls and grey for boys (sometimes khaki out of school (Scouts used to wear that colour socks) but *never* white!)." The only exception HBC has noted in England Cubs when dressed foformal cremonies, but this was not very common, and younger boys playing cricket. Nor are we sure why there were no other colors of hosiery worn at British schools. 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, again almost always grey ankle scoks. Even when boys began wearing long trousers, they still mostly wore grey socks.