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The most common style of play sandal had a center strap. This is because this style of sandal was so enormously popular in England. The style is commonly known as a school sandal in England and a "T" strap shoe or sandal in America. I believe that it was also referred to as a sand shoe in England, but an English reader disagrees with this. I am not sure when it first appeared. At this time we can only trace it to the 1910s. We note for example the Scottish Maxwell family wearing classic "T" strap sandals about 1917. They were a wealthy family. We do not know how common these sandals were for other British boys. They do not seem, however, to have been widely worn until after World War I (1914-18) in the 1920s. It proved more popular for boys in England and Europe than in America. The NAZIs disapproved of it and it was not widely worn in Germany after the mid-1930s. We do begin to see it more more commonly after the War into the 1950s. Dress shoes for girls were ecentually made in this style.
The style is commonly known as a school sandal in England and a "T" strap shoe or sandal in America. I believe that it was also referred to as a sand shoe in England, but an English reader disagrees with this.
Another reader writes, "The terminolgy piece relating to sand shoes is correct. The term trainer
was not in common use until the 80s. In fact we did not really get different types of plimsols/pumps/sand shoes (a very NE term)/gym shoes until aboutt that time either. I have never heard of sandals being referred to as sand shoes. Plimsols were either black with an elasticated instep or white and lace up. The former more associated with younger children, the latter with older children eg in secondary education and adults." Well HBC picked up the term "sand shoes" from reading English books. I seem to recall the term being used in books from the 1920s and 30s. Unfortunaely that was before HBC and I did not take note of just where I saw the term being used. Apparently it was not being used by the 1950s.
The most common style of play sandal had a center strap. This is because this style of sandal was so enormously popular in England.
Our chronology of "T"-strap sandals is incomplete at this time. I am not sure when the "T"-strap sandal first appeared. The earliest image we have found is an American Daguerreotype, we think from the 1850s. It is being worn by a very young boy wearing a tunic. This would have been a strap shoe more than a sandal. We are a little unsure about this image because it is such a poor-qulity scan. Another problem is that we do not see other children wearing them in the 19th century. As far as we can tell, the "T"-strap sandal was a 20th century syle. At this time we can only trace it to the 1910s as a common style of sandal. We note for example the Scottish Maxwell family wearing classic "T" strap sandals about 1917. They were a wealthy family. We do not know how common these sandals were for other British boys at the time. They do not seem ,however, to have been widely worn until after World War I (1914-18) in the 1920s.
The "T"-bar sandal proved more popular for boys in England and Europe than in America. This of course is especially true in England, but we alsonote them being worn on the Continent, especially Germany and the Netherlands. The NAZIs disapproved of sandals they were not not widely worn in Germany after the mid-1930s by boys age 10 and more. (This was the age boys joined the HJ. You almost never see HJ boys wearing sandals.) We do begin to see it more more commonly after the War into the 1950s. While American boys did not commonly wear "T"-strap play sandals, patent leather dress shoes in this style were widely worn by girls and very popular in America.
We note two different styles of "T"-strap sandals. The principal style was a single bar sandal with a full center strap. Almost all of the children we see in the photographic record wear this style. A minor alternative which does not seem to have been very common was a split center strap.
We notice some boys wearing cloesed-toe single strap sandals that had a split center strap. The center strap was split near the bottom forming a kind of upside down "Y". We do not notice this style very commonly, at least for play sandals. We think this was a style worn in the 1930s and 40s. The examples that we have found are American. We have not yet noted this style in Britain or other countries. The single-bar sandals tended to be very widely worn by boys in England and to a lesser degree in Europe, but much less so in America. The standard "T"-strap school sandal was enormously popular in England. But we do not notice this split-center strap. We do note this style with girl's dress patent leather shoes, but less commonly with children's play sandals. We are not sure about the colors involved. As with sandals in general, they were generally worn by younger American boys, but more commonly among girls of various ages.
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