Some time back I mentioned that in Britain light switches are fitted so that down=on, up=off. The same holds true for wall mounted shut-off switches for ranges, heaters, etc.
When it comes to distribution panels, though, it seems as though we couldn't make up our minds over the years.
Pre-war, we generally had small 1- or 2-way fuseboxes with a side mounted handle. These were up=on, down=off,and often interlocked to the front cover.
After WWII the multi-way "consumer unit" was introduced, and the main switch moved to the front panel and took on the appearance of a normal (big!) toggle switch. These changed to down=on, up=off. I can only assume the change was on the argument that it made sense for it to work the same way as a light switch.
Since about the early 1980s circuit breakers have gradually become much more widespread in domestic panels in place of fuses, and these breakers are always up=on, down=off.
In the last 5 years or so, manufacturers have changed the main switches back to up=on, down=off, presumably on the grounds that as circuit-breakers are now common it makes sense to have everything on the panel working the same way up.
It's probably just as well that on all types the main switches have "ON" and "OFF" markings!
