I plead the Pith: a History of the Pith Helmet

hello and welcome to another episode of the hat historian in this video i will be talking about a hat that has come to be a symbol of exploration colonialism and tropical climates the pith helmet [Music] also known sometimes as a solar topi a celecot or even a bombay bowler the pith helmet is a rigid sun hat originally made from you'll be shocked to learn pith which is the spongy membrane inside fibrous plants notably from the solar plant and covered with cloth later on rather than pith it was often made from cork a staple for intrepid gentlemen explorers intellectual egyptologists 19th century soldiers in tropical climates who are yes more often than not colonial conquerors the pith helmet has been for europeans a marker of overseas adventures and exoticism and to non-europeans usually a sign of pasty white people who didn't handle the sun while telling them what to do the hat itself however is very good at what it does protect the wearer from the sun and has been used in many different contexts the pith helmet has its origins in the philippines where the locals wore a domed shaped hat known as the salacot made from various plants it was stiff and often topped with a small metal or wooden finial and was used for protection against the sun often rather simple sometimes it was elaborately ornamented as a status symbol in the early 18th century spanish colonial forces and their native auxiliaries adopted a plane version of the salacot for their soldiers as a protection against the elements in this tropical country in the 19th century usage of these rigid vegetable sun hats spread to other colonial powers in southeast asia notably the french and indochina though they still resembled more than traditional asian conical hats than the modern colonial helmet that we are familiar with the pith helmet can really be said to have evolved in british india around the mid-19th century british troops that had taken over the country originally wore the tall felt and leather chacos that was part of the standard european uniform heavy hot and cumbersome they were completely impractical for the tropical indian weather even with the addition of a white cover the british authorities therefore began searching for practical replacement salacots which had been imported for use by workers had proven popular and various designs were experimented with in order to make it somewhat less asian and suitable for the colonial troops while still remaining practical they eventually came up with what would be known as the foreign service helmet originally a fairly odd looking thing with a large comb at the top containing a ventilation tube it eventually settled into a tall domed shape with a sloping back to cover the neck and a small ventilation hole at the summit protected by a button like the one i'm wearing right now though some military dress models were also decorated with crests on the front and spikes on the top the origin of the shape radically different from its predecessors is uncertain but likely inspired by british cavalry helmets of the time one can easily see the resemblance here this pattern of quark helmet was also adopted back in britain itself covered in blue felt as the home service helmet the type of this helmet survives to this day the custodian helmet seen on the heads of british policemen and has become something of a symbol of the country it should be noted that well stiff though it might offer a tiny bit of protection from sharks that was not its purpose despite it being referred to as a helmet the pith or cork construction was found to be very poor at conducting heat rendering it good for protection against the sun and the stiff construction of her liner allowed air to circulate between the head and the hat keeping the wearer cool it was usually surrounded by a folded piece of cloth called the pugory which is represented here in a decorative manner but originally could be detached soaked in water and then put back and the evaporation of the water would keep the head cool as the helmet's success became evident other nations soon adopted it often in a pattern resembling the british one such as the french the germans the dutch or the spanish with these countries colonial ambitions expanding into africa in the latter 19th century the pith helmets spread to that continent as well and became somewhat representative of colonial conquest however it also had spread to civilian use at the time it was believed that europeans were particularly susceptible to sunstroke as opposed to the natives which were thought to have developed an immunity towards it with that in mind european administrators businessmen and visitors to tropical countries started wearing various forms of the pith helmet and it became so popular with the english in india that a variant somewhat flatter and slightly square became known as the bombay bowler though sharp and elegantly marshall the colonial pattern helmet was determined to not offer adequate protection from the sun to the neck and shoulders and at the turn of the 20th century a new path helmet was designed named woolsey pattern helmet after field marshal sir garnett wallsey first veal count walls lee who didn't actually design it but was in charge when it became widely distributed and therefore became associated with it was introduced in 1899 and it still had the tall crown but much wider brim that extended far behind the head as you can see in pictures here thereby giving more shade while associated with the colonial period the pith helmet particularly the wolseley version i just mentioned saw much service in both world wars especially world war one british and french troops in the middle east as well as their allies often fought wearing pith helmets as did germans and italians this continued even after the adoption of steel helmets during the course of the war despite as i've previously mentioned the pith helmet not being designed to protect from blows it was considered that in these harsh climates the sun was a greater risk than any shrapnel that might be encountered thus the pith helmet continued to be issued during the interwar period to address the coverage problem that the british tried to solve with the woolsey helmet in 1931 the french adopted the aptly named model miles model 1931 which i'm wearing now to replace the previous one which resembled the british colonial model closely and had now become obsolete a round wide dome-shaped hat it actually hearkened back more to the original philippine celicate than to the british colonial models lower crowned it resembled the civilian bombay bowler and was soon adopted by many administrators in the french colonies as well as by other countries germany and italy adopted similar shaped helmets as did the united states in 1934 however while it was still commonly worn during world war ii by both sides of the conflict it started to decline in the 1950s by then colonialism began to be called into question and fewer european troops were deployed overseas when they were they tended to wear steel combat helmets that protected the head better from wounds if not the sun when they did wear pith helmets they were often no longer made from cork but from plastic or some other synthetic fiber with a wave of colonial independences between the mid 50s and mid 60s civilians did not wish to antagonize these new countries by wearing reminders of the former colonial regime started abandoning them too this was compounded as i've said in other videos by the general decline in hat wearing at the time the pith helmet faded into history but as with almost all hats i've talked about so far being relegated to history as a common piece of headwear does not mean that it vanished completely it remains common in the military uniforms of countries with a warm climate and a history of colonization as well as in units from other countries that were deployed there notably a wolseley helmet is worn as part of the dress uniform of the royal marines it is also worn by some canadian australian and various african countries units a plumed wollsley helmet is also part of the uniform of the governors of overseas british territories the colonial pattern helmet is still worn by the royal gibraltar regiment and in differing forms by italian monagasque and various other police forces the french style pattern is also still used by the us military particularly u.s marine rifle range cutters this style of pith helmet can also be seen worn by us postal service employees on hot days it was also spread to vietnam during the colonization period and is still widely worn there finally this style is the most commonly seen on modern versions of pith helmet that can still be purchased often made of artificial fibers of plastic to be used as a sunlight the pith helmet is also an enduring symbol of exploration with gentlemen explorers often being represented wearing one in period films and the intellectual man portrayed as studying in warm weather will also usually sport one to distinguish him from his adventurer who will more often wear a fedora type hat or no hat at all mostly any cartoon trying to depict someone exploring will put them in a pith helmet so despite its complicated history and sometimes unfortunate associations the pith helmet retains a powerful presence in the modern imagination so i hope you found this all interesting and will join me again soon for another hat until then i tip my hat to you

Channel: HatHistorian

Views: 260,093

Keywords: sola topi, salakot, colonial history, hat history, jean charles foyer

Id: qLh4PsjAHws

Length: 9min 56sec (596 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 01 2022