[emeritus]

Although flush-mounted sockets were certainly available before the first world war, most of the pre-war installations I have seen used surface-mounted sockets and light switches. Even our 1938-built house, which still had its original wiring when we moved here in the 1980's, had surface-mounted 2A and 15A 2 pin sockets screwed to the skirting boards, although the light switches were flush-mounted using wooden boxes and metal conduit embedded in the plaster.