WW2 ARP Warden Steel Helmet

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1939

Subcollections

Overview

Bowl-shaped Mark I, black painted, steel helmet with a wide brim of simple pressed construction fitted with edging to the rim with letter "A" (for Ambulance) stenciled on the front and a canvas strap. Inside the helmet is there is a domed, what appears to be reinforced leather, framework that supports leather and rubber padding which sits about a centimetre inside the outer steel shell of the helmet and is attached to the helmet at the top of the dome.

This helmet was worn by an civil defence ambulance driver in Collie.

Historical information

The Brodie helmet is a steel combat helmet designed and patented in London in 1915 by Latvian inventor John Leopold Brodie . A modified form of it became the Helmet, Steel, Mark I in Britain and the M1917 Helmet in the US. Colloquially, it was called the shrapnel helmet, battle bowler, Tommy helmet, tin hat, and in the United States the doughboy helmet. It was also known as the dishpan hat, tin pan hat, washbasin and Kelly helmet. The German Army called it the Salatschüssel (salad bowl).

From 1936, The Helmet, Steel, Mark I was fitted with an improved liner and an elasticated webbing chin strap. This final variant served until late 1940, when it was superseded by the slightly modified Mark II, which served the British and Commonwealth forces for the remainder of WW2.

In 1939 Commonwealth Steel Company (in conjunction with Lysaghts) started manufacturing steel helmets in Australia. Commonwealth Steel Company (or Comsteel) was founded in 1917 to manufacture wheels, tyres, axles and steel castings for railway use from a factory in Newcastle, NSW.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-124-2020.310

Item type

Material

Width

29 mm

Height or length

30.5000 mm

Depth

12 mm

Themes

War and Conflict

Inscriptions and markings

On the inside of the helmet lettering is embossed but partially obscured where the canvas strap is attached to the rim.

ROC????? 1939
I

On the back inside rim the initials R.M have been scratched

Contextual Information

Air Raid Precautions ( ARP ) is one of the most remembered aspects of home-front Australia. Wardens carried gas masks, helmets and rattles or whistles. Schoolchildren were issued identity tags, in case they had to be evacuated to somewhere safer, and told to carry something to bite on to limit the shock of bomb blast. An ARP Warden's main task was to try and protect people during air raids, when enemy planes dropped bombs, especially on cities. They would hand out gas masks and guide people to shelters.

This helmet was the ARP Wardens helmet from Len-o-Siggs Collie pharmacy. It can be identified as the final version of the Mark I by the improved liner and an elasticated webbing chin strap.

Keywords

Civil Defence

Place made

Newcastle
NSW
Australia

Warratah

Year

1939

Busselton Historical Society

Organisation Details
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