news Object of the Week: Brodie Helmet

[The Tank Museum]

Resembling a Medieval foot soldier’s kettle hat, the “Helmet, Steel, Mk.I” was the iconic form of headgear worn by the British soldier through both World Wars.

 

Commonly known as the Brodie Helmet after its designer, John L. Brodie, the steel helmet was designed to protect soldiers in the trenches of the Western Front not from rifle bullets but from the horrific head injuries produced by Shrapnel shells exploding overhead. Widely used by all the protagonists during World War I, the Shrapnel round contained a quantity of lead bullets resembling musket balls together with a bursting charge. Its detonation can be likened to the aerial explosion of a Claymore mine.

 

The Brodie Helmet was introduced to the British Army in the early part of 1916, almost a year after the French introduced their Adrian Pattern. Originally designated as “trench stores”, it was not until the summer of 1916 and the period of the Somme offensive that enough had been produced for helmets to become a personal issue to each soldier.

 

The first Brodies were made from pressed mild steel, soon replaced by manganese steel, which was hard enough to resist the impact of a Shrapnel bullet. Other modifications included an improved liner with a shock-absorbing rubber “doughnut” in the crown and a separate rim. The liner was held in by a single copper rivet, which also passed through the chinstrap.

 

This example from the Museum collection is finished in khaki coloured paint mixed with sand to reduce shine. A transfer on the front depicts the badge of the Machine Gun Corps, whose Heavy Branch was the predecessor of the Tank Corps. Internally the liner is missing apart from a short section of leather chinstrap and part of the felt padding of the crown.

 

What appears to be a bullet hole is present in the top of the helmet. As there is no provenance attached to this helmet, we have no idea of its history, but can only hope that the last wearer was lucky enough to survive.

 

 

[Enigma]

These helmets are so iconic to the WW1 and WW2 Commonwealth soldier.

Also used/copied by the Americans in WW1 and into early WW2.