In article , Sacha wrote:

I don't remember having 'supper' last thing at night when I was young.

The oldest convention for it that I know of was the meal that, er,
gentlemen took before going to bed and after playing cards. The
main evening meal was dinner - not eaten before 7 pm, of course!
But I believe that died out in the early 19th century, as a fairly
widespread practice.

As Judith said, the usage persisted for the meal that children
were given before going to bed when they had been fed earlier
(sometimes called high tea). But not everwhere.

Remember that the British class system wasn't a simple ranking,
and different communities had different conventions.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.