I am reminded of a discussion some while ago somewhere on lj (somebody's own journal I think) about this phenomenon of shabbiness and genteel poverty in UK children's lit. It's not just a question of there not being money, but of priorities and what it gets spent on (keeping up the family mansion etc). Clearly there is a version of it in which money may be spent on horses and their upkeep but not on clothes. In the years when I read a lot of pony books, the families in those all seemed to have handed-down clothes (and in one or two even picked up their riding clothes at jumble sales), and having new gear was even something of a no-no.

One also recalls somebody snarking at Miranda in The Attic Term for having new and expensive dresses, which suggests that other pupils at Kingscote are wearing hand-me-downs for their 'best' (or just rather plain, designed for hard wear, dresses). Consider the Change 'Ere furore. It's not just Nick and Lawrie who go into buying frenzy.