American Readers(and others too)

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Up until quite recently, the Sixties (and among traditionalists the Eighties), no Englishmen who considered himself or aspired to be a gentleman would be without his handkerchief. This was separate from the one carefully folded in the jacket breast pocket, which was just for show;* the functional hanky was kept in another pocket out of sight, or tucked into the sleeve.

Paper tissues (i.e. Kleenex) simply didn't figure. One could say that the old guard were more environmentally friendly!
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*Unless handed to a lady who had spilled something on herself, usually with a restrainedly chivalrous flourish