The Sussex fowl description originally referred to a type of table bird which was produced by farmers in a district of Sussex from the 16^th Century. In fact Sussex and similar type fowl existed for hundreds of years and where not standardized until around 1904 when the Sussex breed began to be shown.

The light Sussex is the main variety and should be white with neck hackles striped a prominent black. The black is also seen in the flights and when the wing is open an the tail is black

 

Light Sussex Bantams

These where being developed from the early 1920's. Some state that the speckled came first, but the Poultry Year book for 1927 comes out in favour of the Light.

The Light Bantams appear to come from a different source. The light  again the most popular of the Sussex , appear to have been developed from outcrossing the Columbian Wyandotte bantam to a large Light Sussex. It was this approach that developed the correct type of bantam which was a miniature of the large.