Home Service Helmet

[paul w]

Guys,I'm in the process of purchasing this 1878 pattern cloth Home Service Helmet.As you can see the inside of the helmet has seen better days but I believe the outside will clean up nicely.Can I have some opinions please on the originality of this piece as I am very much a beginner when it comes to these items,thanks for any help you can give,

Paul

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[Stuart Bates]

Paul,

I wouldn't touch this one, it is just not right -

1. The four arm base of the spike doesn't sit properly on the helmet and is secured by only two lugs with cotter pins! The correct method is a screw thread on each arm secured by a washer/nut. There doesn't seem to be evidence of the other two holes required.

2. The base of the spike intrudes far to far into the interior of the helmet. It should be level with the cartwheel collett. The spike is obviously not for a Home Service helmet.

3. The helmet plate does not sit well on the helmet. It looks like there are four holes penetrating the helmet shell to secure the plate. There should only be three - at mid-right and mid-left on the backing plate and one from the backing plate's detachable centre. Lugs and cotter pins/leather wedges were used to secure the plate to the helmet.

Hope this helps.

Stuart

Edited April 4, 2010 by Stuart Bates

[Stuart Bates]

I forgot to add that the helmet plate seems offset to the left - looking front on - I doubt that this would have been acceptable.

[Stuart Bates]

Just to finish - any seller who plonks a helmet on the ground to photograph it should be avoided

Stuart

[Mervyn Mitton]

Stuart - do you think it could be an old police helmet stripped of original furniture ?

[paul w]

Guys,thanks very much for the opinions.Mervyn,you're not the first person to wonder about the police helmet angle.Out of interest,were the interiors of home service helmets and police issue helmets the same and does anyone have any pics to compare?Thanks again,

Paul

[Stuart Bates]

It looks like an OR's Home service Helmet to me but I don't know anything about police helmets - that's your area Mervyn.

Doing a google on police helmets gives plenty of images and it looks like they were/are pointed in front rather than being rounded.

Here is a snapshot from Jones' catalogue of 1886 showing police helmets. The metropolitan has six seams whereas the country example doesn't seem to have any. The one described with metal mountings has only four. They all appear to have a pointed front peak.

The cloth band around the base of the crown also looks different to the HSH in that it is narrower and has edging, although I have no idea what goes around the metro one.

That is about all I can contribute to this side of the discussion, but I will re-iterate that I wouldn't touch the helmet with a barge pole!

Stuart

[William1]

Whatever it is, it clearly originally had different types of fittings, most notably the spike base, as has been pointed out.

Stuart - the sweatband looks to have similar cork spacers to the foreign service helmet I used to own and which I posted pictures of recently.

Regards,

W.

[Stuart Bates]

Hello William,

ventilation was always a major criterion for the Foreign Service Helmet but the lack of it was a major complaint of the Home Service Helmet.

None of the 23 Blue/Green/Grey Cloths that I have sport any ventilation between the headband and the shell. They are all officers' versions and span QV and Ed VII to George V.

I was thinking on this facet as I have seen it before on another OR's BC that I should have but didn't buy. There the cork ventilation was to the front and rear. I do not know, but I suspect that this ventilation was pre WWI. Full dress was, for the most part, not re-instated after WWI but tattoos were held at Aldershot in the 1920s and '30s and I believe that stocks of the HSH were held in stores for these events, and of course, bands still wear them to this day.

I hope someone can expand on this. In many ways the HSH is a bit of a mystery as it just seems to have arrived in 1878. I have never seen any official documentation on it, other than the Dress Regulations, and I don't know anyone who has.

Stuart

Edited May 10, 2010 by Stuart Bates

[Stuart Bates]

After talking to my friend Peter Suciu, who has two ORs HSHs, it seems that these have the lugs on each arm of the crosspiece and are secured by cotter pins.

This may explain why the crosspiece sits so awkwardly on the helmet i.e. the north and south lugs have not penetrated the helmet shell and so force the arms proud of the helmet. Only a hands on would determine this.

The Dress Regulations are for officers only and do define the four arms as being attached by "four screws and nuts."

The little book I have on the HSH conveniently does not define the method of attachment for an OR's.

God I hate humble-pie, but at least I have learned something.

I still would not touch this one though, look at the damage done to the interior where the cork is exposed by the clumsy fitting of the helmet plate.

Stuart

Edited April 6, 2010 by Stuart Bates

[Jamie770]

I think that this helmet is a 'marriage' put together of original parts.

The helmet shell looks like an original OR's HSH - whilst early police helmets were similar (and some did have rounded front peaks), the majority would have had ventilation grommets either side.

The metal fittings look original, the two fixing cross base is unusual but I've seen it once or twice before on OR's helmets. I think the spike is correct, having a longer screw thread protruding through the collet is quite common on OR's helmets.

The ear rosettes are of the'cheaper' looking pattern - but the main concern is that they don't match.

On the plus side, it has retained its shape well and with carefull cleaning and some restoration it could make a fair display piece as being representative of the HSH style - I suppose its desirability would depend on price and what you are looking for.

I suspect it is a post 1902 helmet subsequently used at the Aldershot Tattoo - the large ink stain is quite possibly covering the Tattoo stamp. There is a lot of damage to the cork body behind the helmet plate, probably caused by repeated removal and refixing of different plates.

For comparison I attach an internal photo of a Victorian Lanarkshire Rifle Vols helmet (unusual in having screw lugs on the otherwise OR's pattern cross base)

[Jamie770]

Also for comparison, herewith a photo of the inside of a Victorian Midlothian and Peebles RV Vols helmet

[Jamie770]

A police helmet of circa 1910 - 1920 vintage - the side ventilation grommet hole can be seen, although the actual grommet fitting is missing.

[Stuart Bates]

Hi Jamie,

what is the significance of the date 1902 in relation to ORs' helmets?

Both of your Scottish examples show cork ventilation to the front of the helmet, do you know when this was introduced? A major complaint of the HSH was its poor ventilation.

The Aldershot Tattoos were held in the 1920s and '30s although I believe a tattoo was held for Queen Victoria in 1896.

Stuart

Edited April 25, 2010 by Stuart Bates

[Jamie770]

Hi Stuart,

The date has no real relevance other than that was when the transition started from QC to KC plates - I would suspect that when helmets were retained for the Tattoos they would have kept back the later versions.

I don't know when the cork was introduced - I've never really studied the feature but I've seen OR's helmets both with and without it. Possibly this varied from manufacturer to manufacturer (?).

To be honest, I don't think it would provide much ventilation. Careful peeling back of the leather head band reveals little ventilation opening with the cork seeming to be more of a 'spacer' to follow the shape of the forehead. Perhaps someone else can cast some more light on this feature or give a different opinion?

The police versions addressed the ventilation issue by introducing side vent grommets to allow passage of air - although some forces like the Royal Irish Constabulary did not have these.

I'm not sure of the dates of the Aldershot Tattoos but I believe they used stocks of full dress, a good proportion of which presumably dated from pre-WW1.

[Stuart Bates]

The helmets would have been returned to stores just prior to 1914 and I have read that the first Aldershot Tattoo was held in 1922.

I have seen this sort of "ventilation" to both the front and the rear and agree that it would not appear to have been very successful as ventilation, if that was indeed its intended use.

Stuart

[paul w]

Gents,sorry I havent replied earlier but I've been on my hols.Thank you very much for all the contributions to this thread,its been very informative and will help me personally in my search for an ORs HSH.I've decided against this particular helmet as it appears that while the helmet and fittings are original,they're not necessarily to each other.The interior of the helmet is also quite damaged and while it would probably clean up quite well I think I'll wait for one in better condition.Out of interest the seller told me that the helmet was bought with a tunic from the Suffolk Regt. and that the original owner had purchased the helmet and replaced the helmet plate centre with that of the Suffolk Regt in order to complete the group.Thanks once again for your help,

Paul

[Stuart Bates]

Well I finally took delivery of my first OR's blue cloth and my first observations are as follows -

1. 2 lugs - west and east - were used to secure the spike base, although we have seen 4 lugs used. I have a grey cloth to the Eton Rifle Volunteers which has 4. On my example there is no evidence of lugs ever having been attached to the north and south arms.

2. The spike sits inside the base rather than being proud of it as for an officer's version

3. The screw thread of the spike encroaches about 0.7" into the interior of the helmet. An accident could lead to DIY brain surgery.

4. The cloth band around the helmet is narrower than on an officers - about 0.7" to around 0.9" for the officers (0.75" was the regulation).

5. The ear rosettes are smaller on an OR's - about 1" to 1.25".

6. Forgot that the rosettes on each arm of an officer's crosspiece are not a fixture of the crosspiece but a component.

This is based on only one example so I hope that other members can comment on helmets that they have.

This shows the difference in the rosettes and the cloth band

Edited May 10, 2010 by Stuart Bates