Socks and Ankle Socks

Introduction

Socks are not something that often appear in works on seventeenth century clothing, but they do appear quite often in the accounts and inventories of the middling sort and the gentry. Likewise there are few illustrations of socks, except for Marcellus Laroon’s Holland Sock Seller in his 1680s Hawkers and Criers of London. (Figure 1)

What were socks?

Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary defines a sock as simply “Something put between the foot and shoe.” (1) The OED has “A short stocking covering the foot and usually reaching to the calf of the leg”, but it also gives the option of “A covering for the foot, of the nature of a light shoe, slipper, or pump.” A lot depends on context, if something is described as of linen or thread, or knitted, then they are not shoes. The term ankle sock first appears in James Master’s accounts in 1647 when he purchases “3 pa of threed ancle socks” (2 p. 168)

Marcellus Laroon. 4 paire for a shilling Holland socks

 

 

How were they worn?

The Cunningtons considered that “Socks were worn in addition to stockings, possible with stirrup hose and probably as a protection to the stockings.” (3 p. 63) This seems perfectly logical. James Master frequently buys socks and stirrup hose together, for example in 1663 he pays “for a pa of wool stirrop hose & ancle socks 3s” (4 p. 115), and a few years earlier in 1652 he paid “for knitting 2 pa of stirrup hose and 2 pa of socks 7s 6d” (2 p. 204) Stirrup hose were stockings without feet having simply a stirrup to go under the foot. Pepys indicates that socks were worn at the same time as stockings when he writes that he spent, “too long bare-legged yesterday morning when I rose while I looked out fresh socks and thread stockings, yesterday’s having in the night, lying near the window, been covered with snow within the window, which made me I durst not put them on.” (5 p. March 1667) They were also worn when playing sports. Charles I bought socks in bulk, “27 pairs of socks for tennis and balloowne £4 1s 0d” (6 p. 89) Charles II had one Robert Long who “attended your Matie at Oxford..at which tyme, your Matie did also confirme on him the keepeing of your Tennis Shoos and Anckle Socks.” (7)

 

What were they made from?

They could be of fabric, usually linen or a mixed fabric such as fustian. In 1625 the Howard Accounts have “2 yards of fustian to make my Lady socks 2s.” (8 p. 225) In 1641 the Seymour family purchased several ells of holland for making shirts, smocks and for “sockes for my ladie Francis and my lady Mary.” (9 p. 18) They were also frequently knitted. In 1645 the Tawstock Accounts have “paid Eliz: Umbles for knitting my Lord's socks 2s” (10 p. 63), and in 1620 the Howard Accounts have “2 pair of knitt socks for my lady 16d” (8 p. 124) These knit stockings are usually described as worsted or thread. As Rutt has noted smooth, tightly spun worsted wool became used a general term for any sheep based knitting yarn. (11 p. 233) It appears in accounts for example in 1650 as “6 pairs of worsted socks for his Lordship 12s” where the fact that they are knit is assumed. (10 p. 156) Thread yarn, was linen, or later, cotton yarn. James Master buys many pairs of linen socks, which are fabric, but if they are knit they are thread  socks, for example, “for 3 pa of threed ancle socks 4s 6d” (2 p. 168)

 

How much did they cost?

In 1605 Sir William Fitzwilliam paid sixpence for a dozen pair, so a halfpenny each. (12 p. 388) By 1646 James Master was paying sixpence each for linen socks (2 p. 163) In 1661 Giles Moore, rector of Horsted Keynes paid “For 6 paire of course socks bought at London 2s” fourpence a pair, but he also bought two finer pair for sixpence each. (13 p. 27) Marcellus Laroon’s Holland sock seller is selling then at four pair for a shilling, which works out at three pence a pair. (14 p. 162)

 

Where could you obtain them?

 

As well as Laroon’s street seller, mercers and haberdashers also stocked them. In 1665 the Lincoln mercer Benjamin Marshall had nine pair in stock at four pence half penny each, and in the same city in 1679 haberdasher Henry Mitchell had seventeen pairs in stock at four pence each. (15 p. 18 & 59) You could also have them made for you. In 1665 Giles Moore records “Giv'n Elizabeth Pocock 6s For to buy & make Mee 12 paire of socks which shee accordingly made & sent.” These were probably linen socks as Elizabeth Pocock is also recorded making Moore’s bands and cuffs. As previously mentioned, you could also have them knitted for you.

 

Who wore them?

They do not appear in the probate inventories of lower-class people. They start to appear in the records of the middling sort, people like the rector Giles Moore, Samuel Pepys, and John Willoughby of Leyhill, who was the son of a prosperous clothier. (16 p. 261) Socially above these they appear in the accounts on many esquires and gentlemen, like James Master, and Sir William Fitzwilliam. At these levels of society, and above, silk stockings would often be worn. These silk stockings could cost over a pound, and the cheap socks could be worn over them to prevent the foot of the silk stocking wearing out as it rubbed against the leather of the shoe. By the time you get to level of royalty they seem to be restricted to use as tennis socks, one assumes kings did not worry about their silk stockings wearing out.

 

References

1. Johnson, Samuel. A Dictionary of the English Language. [Online] 1755. [Cited: Jun 28, 2023.] https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com.

2. Robertson, S. The expense Book of James Master 1646-1676 [Part 1, 1646-1655], transcribed by Mrs Dallison. Archaeologia Cantiana. 1883, Vol. 15, 152-216, pp. 152-216.

3. Cunnington, C. Willett and Cunnington, Phillis. Handbook of English costume in the 17th century. 3rd ed. London : Faber, 1972.

4. Robertson, S. The expense Book of James Master 1646-1676 [Part 4, 1663-1676], transcribed by Mrs Dallison. Archaeologia Cantiana. 1889, pp. 114-168.

5. Pepys, Samuel. Diary. [Online] [Cited: June 28, 2023.] https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary.

6. Strong, Roy. Charles I's clothes for the years 1633-1635. Costume. 1980, Vol. 14, pp. 73-89.

7. State Papers Domestic . Charles II, SP 29/2, f. 22. 1660.

8. Ornsby, G. ed. Selections from the Household Books of the Lord William Howard of Naworth Castle. Publications of the Surtees Society. 1878, Vol. 68.

9. Morgan, F. C. Private Purse Accounts of the Marquis of Hertford, Michaelmas 1641-2. Antiquaries Journal. 1945, Vols. 25, 12-42, pp. 12-42.

10. Gray, Todd. Devon Household Accounts 1627-59. Part 2 . Exeter : Devon and Cornwall Record Society, new series, vol. 39, 1996.

11. Rutt, Richard. A history of hand knitting. London : Batsford, 1987.

12. Harland, John (ed.). The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths ...1582-1621, Part 1. Lancaster : Chetham Society, 1856.

13. Bird, Ruth, ed. The Journal of Giles Moore of Horsted Keynes, 1655-1679. Lewes : Sussex Record Society, 1971.

14. Shesgreen, Sean. The Criers and Hawkers of London, engravings and drawings by Marcellus Laroon. Aldershot : Scholar Press, 1990.

15. Johnston, J. A. Probate inventories of Lincoln citizens 1661-1714. Woodbridge : Boydell, for the Lincoln Record Society, 1991.

16. Gray, Todd. Devon Household Accounts 1627-59. Part 1. Exeter : Devon and Cornwall Record Society, new series, vol. 38, 1995.

 

 

What is a rail or a night rail

Rail, is a word that is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and seems originally to have meant any type of clothing that hung loose from the shoulders, so that a rail-thegn was the person in charge of robes in the wardrobe of a household or religious institution. In the Middle Ages it became a term that was used specifically for something that was worn over the shoulders or the head. In 1482 sumptuary legislation forbad the wives of any “servant of husbandrie, or common labourer,” etc. “to weare any reile called a kercheffe, whose price exceedeth twentie pence.” (1)

This connection between a rail and a kerchief continues into the sixteenth century. Palsgrave equates “a rayle for a woman’s neck” with the French “crevechief en quattre doubles.” (2) Florio in 1598 has it specifically as  “anything worne about the neck, as a neck-kercher, a partlet, a raile.” (3) However sometimes it appears to have covered the head. A 1588 manuscript has, “for mendinge, washinge and starchinge of a heade raille of fine white sipers edged round aboute with white thread bone lace.” (4 p. 170) Sipers is another spelling of cypress and indicates a very fine linen.

In her letter to Thomas Cromwell, after the execution of Anne Boleyn, rails were one of the items of clothing that Lady Margaret Bryan complained that the Princess Elizabeth lacked. (5 p. 3) The use of the term rail, without the adjective night, continues well into the seventeenth century. Bishop Richard Corbet (1582-1635), wrote a poem entitled, “To the ladyes of the new dresse, that weare their gorgets and rayles downe to their wastes,” in which rails are referred to as being of linen. (6) What might these rails have looked like? They do not appear in formal portraits, but perhaps the very informal portrait of Elizabeth Vernon, Countessof Southampton (1572-1655), may show a rail.

The term night rail appears to start in the middle of the sixteenth century. One of the earliest references is in the Willoughby Accounts in 1552 which has a purchase of “too ells of hollan cloth for Mistris Margett [the thirteen year old daughter of the house] to make hir nyght-raylles and nyght kerchers, 4s. (7) Agnes Hals of Bury leaves in her 1554 will “Oon of my night kerchers, and oon of my night railes.” (8 p. 142)  In the 1598 New Year’s Roll of gifts to Queen Elizabeth is “one night rayle of lawne wrought with black silk.” (5 p. 100)

Queen Elizabeth’s night rail was wrought with black silk, and in Philip Massinger’s play, The City Madam, the character of Luke complains that;

Great Lords and Ladies feasted to survey

Embroider'd petticoats: and sicknesse fain'd

That your night rayls of forty pounds a piece

Might be seen with envy of the visitants;

Forty pounds is an exaggeration, but the Howard family of Naworth Castle paid 46 shillings (two pounds six shillings) “for a rayle to bestow on Mrs Pennington” in 1623. (9 p. 296) As well as embroidery they could be decorated with lace, and the woman in the 1640 image “A bolster lecture” (Figure 1) may well be wearing a lace trimmed night rail. A similar image appeared three years earlier in Thomas Heywood's  "Curtaine Lecture: As It Is Read by a Countrey Farmers Wife to Her Good Man".

Figure 1: Richard Braithwaite, A Bolster Lecture, 1640.

Randle Holme writes of hooded night rails being, “a kind of dress which women in child bed usually wear when they are for christnings and up-sittings.” (10) After childbirth elite women were expected to spend a month in bed, were they would received vistors while "up-sitting". This is similar to Massinger's lady feigning illness, so her visitors could see her night rail.

So far all these have been rails worn by elite women, but they do appear in the wills and probates of lower class women. In 1615 Ann Dent leaves in her will “to my sisters Elizabeth Laxe and Dorithy Taton, a band, a raill and a lynnen apron.” (11 pp. 133-4) In 1613 Elizabeth Tennant’s inventory has “4 kirchers, 4 railes, 4 neckerchers and 4 approns” worth together 6s, which would be about 4½d each. (12 p. 242) Further up the social scale Elizabeth Lee, the widow of gentleman, has in 1632 “2 night railes 4s.” (13 pp. 113-4) They appear to always be of linen, from the finest lawn down through holland cloth, to the woman who is described as having “A course hempen rayle about her shoulders.” (14)

It is difficult to decide what survivals might be rails, however it is almost certain that in Manchester there is an example in the Filmer Collection. It looks very similar to what is being worn in the Bolster Lecture. The museum describes it as a cape, “Linen cape cut in two curved sections, with 0.5cm wide insertion of needlepoint lace at seam down centre back, and five insertions set in each side, evenly spaced from front, extending to edge of collar; closely cartridge pleated into band at neck; collar shaped with five darts in each shoulder, ending 3.75cm in from front of cape, all edges including insertion edges with narrow openwork hem, collar and cape edged with 1.25cm needlepoint lace” they date it to 1640-1660. (Figure 2)

Figure 2: A rail, 1640-1660. Manchester Art Gallery.

 

References

1. Acts, Statutes, etc. Statutes made at Westminster, Anno 22 Edw . IV. and Anno Dom. 1482 A repeal of all former Statutes made touching the excess of Apparel.

2. Palsgrave, John. Lesclarcissement De La Langue Francoyse. 1530.

3. Florio, John. A worlde of wordes, or most copious, and exact dictionarie in Italian and English. London : A Hatfield for E. Blount, 1598.

4. Cunnington, C. Willett and Cunnington, Phillis. Handbook of English Costume in the Sixteenth Century. London : Faber, 1970.

5. Arnold, Janet. Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd. Leeds : Maney, 1988.

6. Corbet, Richard. The Poems of Richard Corbet, late bishop of Oxford and of Norwich. [Online] [Cited: June 17, 2023.] https://www.gutenberg.org/files/65375/65375-h/65375-h.htm.

7. Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. Report on the manuscripts of Lord Middleton, preserved at Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire. [Online] [Cited: June 17, 2023.] https://archive.org/details/repwollatonhall00greauoft.

8. Tymms, S. ed. Wills and inventories from the registers of the Commissary of Bury St Edmunds and the Archdeacon of Sudbury. London : Camden Society, 1850.

9. Ornsby, G. ed. Selections from the Household Books of the Lord William Howard of Naworth Castle. Publications of the Surtees Society. 1878, Vol. 68.

10. Holme, Randle. The academy of armory. [Online] 1688. [Cited: March 31, 2022.] https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A44230.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext.

11. Atkinson, J A., et al eds. Darlington wills and inventories 1600-1625. Publications of the Surtees Society. 1993, Vol. 201.

12. Kaner, J. ed. Goods and chattels 1552-1642: wills, farm and household inventories from the parish of South Cave in the East Riding of Yorkshire,. Hull : University of Hull, Centre for Continuing Education, 1994.

13. Briggs, J. and McGhee, R. Sunderland Wills and Inventories, 1601-1650. Publications of the Surtees Society. 2010, Vol. 214.

14. Nash, Thomas. Pierce Penniless his Supplication to the Divell. London : Richard Ihones, 1592.