Pith Helmet - Use in The Twentieth Century - Wolseley Pattern Helmet

Wolseley Pattern Helmet

The Wolseley pattern helmet is a distinctive British design developed and popularised in the late-19th/early-20th century. With its swept-back brim it provided greater protection from the sun than the old Foreign Service helmet, and its use was soon widespread among British personnel serving overseas. In the early 20th century the Canadian Militia adopted it as full-dress headgear for infantry of the line, and several armour and infantry regiments maintain its use (see Uniforms of the Canadian Forces#Full dress and patrol dress).

Through the first half of the twentieth century, the Wolseley pattern helmet was worn with civil uniform by British colonial, diplomatic and consular officials serving in 'hot climates'. It was worn with a gilt badge of the royal arms at the front. When worn by Governors and Governors-general the helmet was topped by a 10-inch red and white swan-feather plume. British diplomats in tropical postings, Governors-General, Governors and colonial officials continued to wear the traditional white helmets as part of their ceremonial white uniforms until Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials ceased to wear such dress during the late 20th century for reasons of economy. The ceremonies marking the end of British rule in Hong Kong in 1997 featured the Chief of the Royal Hong Kong Police in a pith helmet and were probably the last occasion on which this style of headdress was seen as a symbol of Empire.

Prior to the Second World War, Royal Navy officers wore the Wolseley helmet when in white (tropical) uniform; the helmet was plain white, with a narrow navy-blue edging to the top of the puggaree.

In the Army a khaki version was frequently worn, ornamented with a regimental cap badge. The full-dress white helmet varied further from regiment to regiment: it was topped with a spike (for infantry and cavalry regiments, for the Army Ordnance Corps and the Royal Engineers) or a ball (for Artillery and other corps), and some regiments had distinctive puggarees. General officers and staff officers in full dress wore plumes similar to those worn on their full-dress cocked hats.