WWI Wolseley Sun helmet

**Jerry B** · 08-04-2022, 05:43 PM

A recent pick of a great war wolseley sun helmet. it has a green diamond flash on one side which appears totally original to it and has faint traces of green paint on the dome vent which matches the below descriptions from a book on great war insignia and a book on wolseley helmets;

Dave Bilton's Badges of Kitchener's army has on pp 179-181 9th bn Worcestershire Regiment wore a green 2in square diamond on the left side of the pagri when they moved to Mesopotamia in feb 1916, which most closely matches the flash on the sun helmet.

In Stuart Bate's book on wolseley helmets he mentions worcestershire reg wore their helmets with no cloth on the dome vent, instead they were painted green.

Oddly though it also has what appears to be the post 1920 7 digit army number from the block for the Devonshire regiment, whose 1st & 2nd Bn's served abroad in hot countries in the inter wars period.

A stunning helmet but with a twist, perhaps an old sweat who took his pith with him and got to keep his old unit flash, maybe a Sgt or something similar.

**Ocad** · 08-07-2022, 08:45 PM

I would agree Jerry. The Worcesters used the Wolseley with a painted green dome and diamond patch. This pattern was used well into the interwar years and early WW2, especially with the battalions stationed in the Far East. I have a later one without the painted dome. I also have a reference image of a 4th Battalion WW1 period with the painted dome. I am certain yours is WR as the dome is uncovered metal and as you say shows evidence of paint. I also found a few WR soldiers with part serial numbers matching that inside.