Father Christmas has been around a lot longer than Santa Claus. A version of Father Christmas called “Sir Christmas” featured in a fifteenth century carol, and Father Christmas himself was appearing regularly in print by the seventeenth century.
At first, Father Christmas was just a personification of the season. Most often depicted wearing a crown of holly, he represented wintry weather, feasting and drinking with friends and family, and a generally merry spirit of Christmas celebration.
But, at least to begin with, he didn’t have anything to do with stockings.
When Santa Claus became popular with Victorian children, slowly but surely Father Christmas started to push back on the American’s grip on the nation’s stockings.
So, he started helping out with the business of delivering presents, dressing a bit more like Santa Claus, and by the dawn of the twentieth century, the two figures had become virtually interchangeable and shared the load of making sure everyone’s stockings were full up on Christmas morning.
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