Name/Title
Brighton Borough Police Traffic Department motorcycle helmet c1959Entry/Object ID
585Description
White plastic "Stadium - Vanguard" motorcycle helmet, with fixed vinyl covered plastic peak, cork re-enforcing panels, cotton webbing, and a cotton and leather headband. Has a white leather harness style chinstrap, with press stud fastening. Marker's marks stamped in the leather headband "Stadium" and "Vanguard" together with "Approved" and a Kite Mark and "Made by Stadium Limited". Also written on webbing in ink "MOCKFORD".Use
For use by a Brighton Borough Traffic Department motorcyclist c1959Context
The first recorded use of a motorcycle by Brighton Police was in 1921, when one was used during a visit to the Town by the Prince of Wales to unveil the Indian War Memorial at Patcham (Baines 1967). However it was only in 1931 that three motorcycles were purchased for general police use (Baines 1967), two of which were used for daily motorcycle patrols throughout the 1930s. By 1956 the force had five motorcycles.
This helmet is made by the British company "Stadium Limited" of Enfield, who made a variety of plastic products, including motorcycle equipment in the 1950s and 1960s. This particular helmet is known to have been used by PC 108 Mockford, who was a Brighton Police Traffic Department motorcyclist in the late 1950s and 1960s, and whose name is written inside. The museum has a photograph (item 591) of him with a motorcycle wearing a similar helmet which, is almost certainly that pictured here. Originally this helmet would have had "Police" written on the front, either painted but more likely on a sticker or water slide transfer. This can be seen in the photograph of PC Mockford, which was taken on Brighton seafront in 1959.
Advertisements show that in 1958 the Vanguard helmet cost 59 shillings or £2 11 shillings, £2.55 in modern currency with an equivalent value of approximately £66 in 2022.