In the U.K., the IEE Regs. only required earths from 1966 onward. Prior to that, earths could be omitted on lighting circuits so long as certain conditions were met: No switches with exposed metalwork, any metal light fixtures to be mounted out of reach, etc.
We had a brief discussion about this here (toward the bottom of page 1 and the top of page 2):
https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000772.html
