Pith Helmets

[BoldHighlander]

Here are two more I ran across in my files:

One could put a tartan patch on the left side of one's helmet and Puggaree -

(Note left side of their helmets in both pics ~ may or may not be tartan, but the idea is there )

Officers of the Transvaal Scottish Volunteers in Pretoria (1910):



Camerons and Seaforths burying their dead after the Battle of Atbara, 8th of April 1898

[Tim Little]

Via eBay:

This is a great early pith helmet, and probably dates from sometime between the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth. Alterations to the helmet make it difficult to determine its origin and age, so bid at your own discretion.

The helmet's interior has been reworked and the lining is now adjustable vinyl. You can see the original cotton covering above the new lining. The exterior has been treated with water-proofing, but doubt that this is original to the helmet. The helmet plate, which I don't believe is original to this helmet, is slightly worn and lists the 92nd Gordon Highlanders military achievements: Waterloo, Peninsula, Orthes, etc. The chinstrap is decorative.

Some reenactors (from SoCal?):

[BoldHighlander]

Note the officers at the lower right of the photo:

[BoldHighlander]

Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, of "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" fame


Here's a wee article on different styles of pith helmets, plus links:
The Definitive Pith Helmet Guide (The Fedora Chronicles)

And some links to three pith helmet dealers:

Hats For All Occasions (some interesting designs)

Hats in the Belfry

IMA

[BoldHighlander]

I wear the ventilated one that Beloitpiper has shown.
I love it! Has better airflow than any straw hat I have ever owned.

Thanks Tess....I like it & the one Ern has on too, they look like they'd be very nice to have on a hot, humid day!

[Mike_Oettle]

Fascinating to see the variety of shapes among those pith helmets.
I still like the style of the type of hat worn (in white) by the British during the Zulu War and (in khaki) during the South African War.
My grandfather was issued one of the SA War variety when he was a magistrate, and my father occasionally wore it while on the farm.
The South African Army and South African Police wore the Wolseley pattern for many years. In fact if I recall correctly the SAP mounted unit was still wearing it for escort duties during the 1970s and ’80s.
In the SA Army, coloured flashes were worn on the left-hand side of the helmet – red and black for the Military Police, green and black for infantry, and so on. Brass badges were in some instances worn over these flashes.
During the Second World War, most regiments wore Wolseley pattern helmets, but the kilted regiments wore tammies or glengarries. When in action, everyone wore “soup plate” steel helmets.
In the Western Cape, postmen wore the Wolseley pattern helmet in white with a flashy silver badge in front showing a pillarbox within a star/sun emblem, with a red liner behind the badge.
The style I like least is the one associated with Vietnam.
And I do think Jamie (Panache) cuts a dashing figure in his pith helmet!
Regards,
Mike

[Lallans]

For future reference, or perhaps there is a photo on the net somewhere, I can give some advice on what NOT to wear in the pith helmet line, and that is the model worn by the young romantic lead in the 1930 version of the film "Trader Horn," which ran on the Turner Classic Movie Channel earlier this week. The man had the most laughable looking pithy object on his head I've ever seen on a human being, from certain angles anyway. He looked like a three year old who had put on Daddy's hat. I missed the film's opening, or rather my DVR did, so it may well have been intended to make him look like a greenhorn but, intentionally funny or not, it was dead pathetic to see him in it. And of course, hilarious.

[Leonard (MacGregor)Tinker]

For the record Uncle Ho and Vo Nguyen Giap first whipped the French and then they whipped the Americans. And the phrase Viet Cong was a perjoritive coined in Saigon. The proper name is NLFSV, for the National Liberation Front, South Viet Nam. Worst year of my life was in the Mekong delta.

[Mike_Oettle]

Leonard wrote: “The proper name is NLFSV, for the National Liberation Front . . .”

Well, at the risk of getting overly political, I would say that this “proper” name was as misleading as the title of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik or the Chinese mainland army being called the People’s Liberation Army.
Viet Cong is good enough for me.
It wasn’t a conflict my country was involved in, but we had our own problems in Southern Africa.
Regards,
Mike

[Whidbey78]

...The man had the most laughable looking pithy object on his head I've ever seen on a human being, from certain angles anyway. He looked like a three year old who had put on Daddy's hat. I missed the film's opening, or rather my DVR did, so it may well have been intended to make him look like a greenhorn but, intentionally funny or not, it was dead pathetic to see him in it. And of course, hilarious.

Kinda like Dark Helmet in Spaceballs?


Man, I gots ta get me one of them!