Category Archives: India

The Mysterious Helmet of General Irvin McDowell

Irvin-McDowell

While it is widely accepted that the sun/pith helmet most certainly originated in India, it remains a point of conjecture whether the sun helmet traveled not to Europe but to America, where it found its way to the first battlefields outside of the Indian subcontinent during the American Civil War.

Some sources suggest that the 4th New Hampshire Infantry may have worn a “pith helmet” or sun helmet to protect the soldiers from the intense southern sun during its campaigns in Florida, but what remains much more of a mystery is exactly what Brigadier General Irvin McDowell (above left with General George McClellan) may have worn at the Battle of Bull Run – the first major engagement of the war between the states. Continue reading →

No plaintiff, but a judge: The Formal Dress Wolseley Helmet of Sir Norman George Armstrong Edgley, KC.

Sir Norman George Armstrong Edgley, KC. (Author’s collection)

Sir Norman George Armstrong Edgley, KC. (Author’s collection)

According to the former owner, this part of Sir Norman´s legacy – consisting of his Wolseley helmet, album of photographs, Royal Warrant, some more papers and his fly whisk –  came from a private house auction and was brought there for fancy dress purposes. A nice idea – and a nice imagination as well, to go to a fancy dress party just covered with Sir Norman´s helmet and swinging his fly whisk. If one gets arrested dressed like this – there is still the Royal Warrant, signed by George VI., to have at least some kind of legitimation. But were to put it without a pocket? Maybe folded in the liner of the helmet, the same place where Lord Kitchener, according to his biographer Philip Magnus, carried dispatch leaflets with him. Continue reading →

Pith vs. Cork – Not One and the Same

corkvpith

While the term “pith helmet” is commonly used to describe any sun or summer helmet, it isn’t exactly accurate. Pith has entered the lexicon much as “Xerox” means “photocopy” or “Kleenex” means “facial tissue” – at least in English. The difference is that while some corporate brands have become generic terms, pith is not a brand but a material. Continue reading →

Some Notes on the Indian Wicker Helmets

This style of the wicker helmet was called the ‘K’ Pattern and is c1896. (Author’s collection)

This style of the wicker helmet was called the ‘K’ Pattern and is c1896. (Author’s collection)

Helmets made of wicker were in use in India from, at least, the 1850s and lasted into the early 20th century with units despatched to the Second Anglo-Boer War from India. These helmets and their cork Colonial equivalents were replaced by the Wolseley pattern in the first years of the 20th century and this was completed by 1910. Continue reading →

Winston in Pith Helmets

 

Winston Churchill in Bangalore, India in 1898. He is wearing a colonial pattern helmet.

Winston Churchill in Bangalore, India in 1898. He is wearing a colonial pattern helmet.

Sir Winston Churchill wore many hats in his life. He was a writer, scholar, soldier, politician, painter and above all English gentleman. Winston as he was often known by friend and foe alike was a Victorian soldier of the Queen, a First World War Lord of the Admiralty and, of course, during the Second World War the Prime Minister.

His most famous hat was his Bowker, but he also sported a Homburg hat as often, and as a soldier wore visor caps and in France in World War I a steel helmet. But of course we remember Mr. Churchill in many a sun helmet! Continue reading →

The Italian Aden and Indian Pattern Helmet

An Italian “Aden” Helmet (Collection of Enzo Faraone)

An Italian “Aden” Helmet (Collection of Enzo Faraone)

While it is hard not to see that the Italian Model 1928 helmet was at least highly “influenced” by the British Wolseley helmet, the Italian military also seemed taken by the Anglo-Indian Cawnpore helmet. This particular topee, which is noted for its quilted pattern, was first a popular as a civilian helmet, but soon found its way to the military as a “private purchase” item.

Originally dubbed the Cawnpore Tent Club hat, it was popularized by the Prince of Wales’ visit to India 1875-76. From the First World War to the 1930s the helmet was chosen by fashion thinking British Officers, but in 1938 the Commander-in-Chief India dictated that the Cawnpore Tent Club helmet – along with the Wolseley – were to be phased out in favor of the Khaki Solar Pith Hat (See: Hat, Pith, Khaki, Solar). Continue reading →