Name/Title
Hastings Police helmet c1940sEntry/Object ID
2556Description
A cork dome topped police helmet covered with dark blue cotton in six panels with matching cotton helmet band. The edging is covered in black patent leather and the inside is lined with green buckram. The leather headband is marked "Christys London" with a King's Crown. there is a paper label marked "7 1/4" and with a handwritten "105". The badge displayed on it is item 2552, a black King's Crown Brunswick star helmet plate, marked "Borough of Hastings Police" with a chrome plated shield centre bearing the Hastings coat of arms.Use
For a Hastings Police male constable or sergeant to wear during day and night duty from the late 1930's until the early 1950s.Context
In the late 19th century period Hastings police officers wore helmets with metal rose tops but at some time in the early 20th century they began wearing cloth dome topped helmets like the one pictured. These continued to be worn until the late 1940s/early 1950s, when the force reverted back to metal rose topped helmets.
Similar helmets to this had also been worn by Eastbourne Borough Police in the 1920s when they stopped wearing ball topped examples.
This particular helmet is thought to date from the 1940s. It had previously been in the possession of the family of Angus Cargill who was the chief constable of Hastings from 1942 until 1954. It had been used as a dressing up item for children and had white paint applied in stripes to the hat band and dome and the original badge had lost its centre and had been painted yellow. Since arriving at the museum efforts have been made to remove the paint, though some ghosting of the stripes can still be seen on the band. The original Kings Crown helmet badge has been replaced with a complete one (item 2552).
Both the "Christys" makers mark and the original badge date the helmet to pre 1953 and it is possible that the handwritten number "105" is an officer's collar number. As chief constable Angus Cargill would not have worn a helmet, so it seems likely that he acquired this one when the newer style rose topped ones were introduced, as it was surplus to requirements.