Any way to date this Canadian helmet?

**nickswalker** · 02-14-2019, 02:30 AM

Any way to date this Canadian Helmet? I have this Canadian helmet, stamped G.S.W. D. P&H but there is no marking of date that many other people talk about having. I also cannot find any other markings on the helmet or strap. I believe it is an MK1 brodie style helmet? But thats about as far as I can figure out. Any help would be awesome

Thanks a ton in advance!

**MedicalAmmunitionCrate** · 02-14-2019, 02:52 AM

I have a similar one, stamped the exact same, and although it may not help with a date nor be correct, but I believe G.S.W only produced Civil Defense helmets. Again I am not entirely sure but this may mean your Canadian helmet was issued to possibly an Air Raid Warden or something similar. But take this with a grain of salt as I am by no means a professional.

**brian d** · 02-14-2019, 03:58 AM

The letters DP&H stood for Department of Pensions and Health. They were made of mild steel for ARP purposes. Cheers Brian

**Mark K** · 02-14-2019, 01:53 PM

As stated G.S.W. manufactured shells for the Department of Pensions and Health for use by the Air-Raids Precautions Service (ARP). These have their lugs,welded and not riveted to the rim.
consequently all helmet shells produced by this manufacturer from mid 1942 and on will only be manufactured from mild steel ( magnetic) these helmets have no date or batch number and are marked G.S.W. DP&H...

Regards Mark K

**Mark K** · 02-14-2019, 02:38 PM

Further information on the Canadian Mk II combat helmet can be found at my Blog below Nick... The Canadian Mk II and it's Components

Regards Mark K

**nickswalker** · 02-14-2019, 02:45 PM

Wow thank you all so much for the info. That totally makes sense as my grandpa's father was a Paymaster during the war and I imagine would have been issued this helmet at that time. Makes so much more sense now, I think i was confusing him with my grandpa from my other side, who served on the front lines.
I do have one more small question, which is that the helmet is covered in what look like small projectile marks, shotguns bb's, shrapnel, dents etc? I'm just wondering how these may have gotten there. Obviously there's no way in telling for sure, but I just wonder if there is anyway this helmet actually saw action? or maybe he just clacked his head a lot while practicing for air raids? haha only kidding.
Thanks again for all your help!
Makes life way easier when I can consult experts online

Cheers,
Nick

**Mark K** · 02-14-2019, 02:52 PM

Nick it is very hard to tell some of the scuffing scraping and damage could be from war time use just generally being kicked about plus the fact it has now been 70 + years since it was first issued a lot can happen in this time...

Regards Mark

**nickswalker** · 02-14-2019, 02:54 PM

very true. I guess that is the extent of the info, If I find anything else out ill post it!
Thanks for your help Mark,
greatly appreciated

take care!

**nickswalker** · 02-14-2019, 05:27 PM

Hey! So I have a small update. I have found out that my great grandfather was a paymaster, and it may very well have been with the department of pensions and health. However I just found one of his old military bags that we have and written on it is Captain L.W. Stevenson, meaning he was a captain maybe? I'm very uniformed in military rankings so Im not entirely sure what that even means. However written under his name is a name from what must be the previous owner, Major R.C. Gorham or Corham, not entirely sure. But this name is written in white, clearly machine written, where as my g. Grandpa's is written in ink.
I've been trying to find some more info but not much luck. Maybe this helps a bit, Im not sure, but im happy to share the info.