The stock - of leather, horsehair, stiffened linen, etc. - which buckled or tied at the back of the neck, I've always considered to be an item of military dress (right up to the mid-19th c.), generally worn by enlisted men.
The 18th c. cravat - a long neck cloth about 6 inches wide - was what civilians (and officers) generally wore. As the 19th c. progressed, this type of cravat gradually evolved into our current styles of neck-tie....