Given that most men, even manual labourers, would typically wear:
- A vest or undershirt
- a heavy cotton shirt with collar & tie
- a waistcoat made from heavy woollen fabric such as tweed or serge
- a suit of same
- a felt or tweed hat of some kind

and that their concession to hot weather was to take off their jacket and roll their sleeves up, it's hardly surprising they were a bit smelly most of the time.

Aerosol air fresheners were invented by the Japanese to get rid of the stink (apparently like sour milk to their nostrils) of occupying American forces personnel in the immediate aftermath of WW2, apparently.
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Mon 6 Feb 2012, 12:37, 1 reply)

My Auntie
worked as a physiotherapist in wartime London. One of her jobs was to treat slum kids for rickets with ultra-violet light. On their first treatment she had to take out the stitches that sewed them into their clothes and put in hook and eye fasteners.
East End children, pre-war, were sewed into their clothes in the fall and wore them day and night until spring.
I wonder if they stunk.
(the other guy not the one that gave you coochie warts, Tue 7 Feb 2012, 2:47, closed)