the old round 15A and 5A sockets in our house when I was young were unswitched?

Quite possibly - there have been both switched and unswitched versions for quite a while - I suspect by the time we got to 3-pin (i.e. earthed) sockets most places were on a.c.

My grandmother's house was like an electrical museum - she had something from about just about every era since probably 1900 - the kind of place where you can tell by looking at the meter that every electrician for the previous 60 years has taken one look at the existing and thought - I'm not touching that - as every addition had its own fusebox and connected straight back to the meter. I remember all the 2-pin sockets were switched in some way - some looked almost like a old round lightswitch, but had socket contacts on one side - others were simple bung shaped sockets, but always had switch next to them on the same wooden backblock.

   - Andy.

the old round 15A and 5A sockets in our house when I was young were unswitched?

Quite possibly - there have been both switched and unswitched versions for quite a while - I suspect by the time we got to 3-pin (i.e. earthed) sockets most places were on a.c.

My grandmother's house was like an electrical museum - she had something from about just about every era since probably 1900 - the kind of place where you can tell by looking at the meter that every electrician for the previous 60 years has taken one look at the existing and thought - I'm not touching that - as every addition had its own fusebox and connected straight back to the meter. I remember all the 2-pin sockets were switched in some way - some looked almost like a old round lightswitch, but had socket contacts on one side - others were simple bung shaped sockets, but always had switch next to them on the same wooden backblock.

   - Andy.