Question about Albert helmet decorations

[Oberstoskar]

I joined the forum and I highly appreciate the expertise and sharing of splendid collection of historic headdresses.

I have acquired a Victorian household cavalry officer’s helmet.

From literature and photo research online, the post-1871 helmet had a few changes:

Omitted the peak gilt decorations
Changed from the the front 2 bands of gilt oak leaves and olives to laurel leaf on one side
Plume holder pike changed

However, my helmet omitted the peak decoration but retained the 2 bands of oak leaves (In the photo I am just showing the left band, which retained the oak leaves instead of laurel leaves).

I wonder if my helmet had a misplacement or it was genuinely used during the transition in 1871?

Also were there 2 versions of Victorian crowns used for the helmet plate (this version has a an extra arc at the flank and I have seen other crowns without the arc)

 

[Oberstoskar]

I illustrate the various Victorian crowns that I observed

 

[Oberstoskar]

Also I have seen some officer’s helmet badge had white paint next to the George cross in the centre. Is this genuine?

 

[Yeohelmetguy]

I joined the forum and I highly appreciate the expertise and sharing of splendid collection of historic headdresses.

I have acquired a Victorian household cavalry officer’s helmet.

From literature and photo research online, the post-1871 helmet had a few changes:

Omitted the peak gilt decorations
Changed from the the front 2 bands of gilt oak leaves and olives to laurel leaf on one side
Plume holder pike changed

However, my helmet omitted the peak decoration but retained the 2 bands of oak leaves (In the photo I am just showing the left band, which retained the oak leaves instead of laurel leaves).

I wonder if my helmet had a misplacement or it was genuinely used during the transition in 1871?

Also were there 2 versions of Victorian crowns used for the helmet plate (this version has a an extra arc at the flank and I have seen other crowns without the arc)

View attachment 56635

Hello,

Your helmet is indeed an1871 pattern dragoon helmet to an officer of the Royal Horse Guards. The 1848 pattern helmet is referred to as the "Albert" pattern helmet. The first point to understand about British Army dragoon helmets is that there are regimental nuances across all the regiments of Dragoons, Dragoon Guards, Household Cavalry. and Yeomanry Cavalry regiments. You are correct that the 1871 uniform/dress regulations did away with the front and rear peak filigree and redesigned the plume spike and the plume spike cruciform base as found on the 1848 pattern helmet, but because regiments had a great latitude in adopting all of the changes whether out of regimental tradition or whim of the regimental commander. some features of the 1848 pattern helmet were retained in some combination by the various regiments. Suffice it to say that your helmet is a correct pattern for the Royal Horse Guards, which, by-the-way had a long with the two regiments of Life Guards their regulations and distinctive pattern helmet. Your helmet with the exception of the Victorian Crown being replaced by a "King's Crown is still worn today. If you have any interest in British Army dragoon helmets, I recommend you purchase a copy of David J J Rowe's seminal work on the subject, Head Dress of the British Heavy Cavalry, Dragoon Guards, Household and Yeomanry Cavalry 1842-1934.

The white paint on the helmet plate on the Life Guards helmet is not correct... something someone added... it should be silver metal as backing behind the red enameled cross.

For your reference the pictures below are three examples of 1871 pattern officer's helmets to the Northamptonshire Imperial Yeomanry and the Essex Imperial Yeomanry and the 6th Dragoons from my collection that that demonstrates strict adherence to the 1871 pattern, notice the regimental variation in plume spike patterns:









These three helmets, also from my collection are examples of the 1848 _Albert" pattern helmet in its purest form, the first an
officer's helmet to the 6th Dragoon Guards (The Carabiniers) and a helmet to the North Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry and the Queen's Own Royal Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry:







And then lastly a couple other helmets from my collection that show 1871 pattern helmets to regiments that chose to retail features form the 1848 pattern helmet, namely the more elaborate plume spike and plume spike base. The are helmet to the Suffolk Yeomanry Cavalry and the Royal Berks Yeomanry Cavalry:





This my officer's helmet, same period as you Royal Horse Guards helmet, to the 1st Life Guards... mine is dated on inside to 1881:



I hope you found this of some help. If you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask...

Cheers,

David

 

[Oberstoskar]

Hello,

Your helmet is indeed an1871 pattern dragoon helmet to an officer of the Royal Horse Guards. The 1848 pattern helmet is referred to as the "Albert" pattern helmet. The first point to understand about British Army dragoon helmets is that there are regimental nuances across all the regiments of Dragoons, Dragoon Guards, Household Cavalry. and Yeomanry Cavalry regiments. You are correct that the 1871 uniform/dress regulations did away with the front and rear peak filigree and redesigned the plume spike and the plume spike cruciform base as found on the 1848 pattern helmet, but because regiments had a great latitude in adopting all of the changes whether out of regimental tradition or whim of the regimental commander. some features of the 1848 pattern helmet were retained in some combination by the various regiments. Suffice it to say that your helmet is a correct pattern for the Royal Horse Guards, which, by-the-way had a long with the two regiments of Life Guards their regulations and distinctive pattern helmet. Your helmet with the exception of the Victorian Crown being replaced by a "King's Crown is still worn today. If you have any interest in British Army dragoon helmets, I recommend you purchase a copy of David J J Rowe's seminal work on the subject, Head Dress of the British Heavy Cavalry, Dragoon Guards, Household and Yeomanry Cavalry 1842-1934.

The white paint on the helmet plate on the Life Guards helmet is not correct... something someone added... it should be silver metal as backing behind the red enameled cross.

For your reference the pictures below are three examples of 1871 pattern officer's helmets to the Northamptonshire Imperial Yeomanry and the Essex Imperial Yeomanry and the 6th Dragoons from my collection that that demonstrates strict adherence to the 1871 pattern, notice the regimental variation in plume spike patterns:

View attachment 56648

View attachment 56649

View attachment 56663



These three helmets, also from my collection are examples of the 1848 _Albert" pattern helmet in its purest form, the first an
officer's helmet to the 6th Dragoon Guards (The Carabiniers) and a helmet to the North Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry and the Queen's Own Royal Staffordshire Yeomanry Cavalry:

View attachment 56650

View attachment 56651

View attachment 56654

And then lastly a couple other helmets from my collection that show 1871 pattern helmets to regiments that chose to retail features form the 1848 pattern helmet, namely the more elaborate plume spike and plume spike base. The are helmet to the Suffolk Yeomanry Cavalry and the Royal Berks Yeomanry Cavalry:

View attachment 56652

View attachment 56653

This my officer's helmet, same period as you Royal Horse Guards helmet, to the 1st Life Guards... mine is dated on inside to 1881:

View attachment 56655

I hope you found this of some help. If you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask...

Cheers,

David

Hi David,
Wow thanks for your very detailed answer ! Highly appreciate your kindness in sharing your knowledge and your very impressive collection!

Are you aware that there’ s some variation on the queen Victoria’s crown pattern? The crown arches flank outwards in greater width on my badge than the other Victorian crowns in other photos.

 

[Yeohelmetguy]

Hi David,
Wow thanks for your very detailed answer ! Highly appreciate your kindness in sharing your knowledge and your very impressive collection!

Are you aware that there’ s some variation on the queen Victoria’s crown pattern? The crown arches flank outwards in greater width on my badge than the other Victorian crowns in other photos.

... great question!! If you will look at the various crowns in the pictures I posted, you will notice that the Victorian Crown was displayed in a variety of sizes especially and configurations and if you look at the black and silver helmet to Queen's Own Royal Staffordshire Yeomanry displays a Victorian Crown in a pattern distinctive to that regiment. As to the crown on your helmet with the additional protrusions on the left and right sides of the crown, that crown is a holdover from the 1848 pattern helmet Household Cavalry pattern helmet. Those to protrusions were done away with later on post 1871 Household Cavalry pattern helmets and forgive me I don't recall the exact date of change off the top of my head, but if you need a definitive date I can check, but they were certainly done away with by 1880 if not sooner as my 1881 dated helmet have them omitted from the crown. The Royal House Guards and the 1st and 2nd Life Guards wore virtually identical helmets in most respects, some minor differences to the size of the rosette at the top of the plume and other minor nuances, the most obvious difference being the color of the plume... red for the Royal Horse Guards and white for the two regiments of Life Guards... hope this answers your question satisfactorily...

As an aside, if you are not familiar with British Cavalry officer's helmets of the Victorian period, they are usually silver plated hence the tarnished and dark patinaed helmet skull of your helmet, the gold is "fire gilt" a very thin application of gold using mercury and is VERY delicate and very fragile and very easily worn or rubbed away, so I might advise that you not attempt to clean it at all...

Cheers,

David

 

[Oberstoskar]

...

As an aside, if you are not familiar with British Cavalry officer's helmets of the Victorian period, they are usually silver plated hence the tarnished and dark patinaed helmet skull of your helmet, the gold is "fire gilt" a very thin application of gold using mercury and is VERY delicate and very fragile and very easily worn or rubbed away, so I might advise that you not attempt to clean it at all...

Cheers,

David

thanks so much for the advice! Unfortunately I had polished my badge prior to reading your message. I used metal polish and stopped as soon as I noticed a tinge of rose color started to appear on the laurel leaf. Then I used water to clean instead. Any advice on restoring the gold paint?

 

[Yeohelmetguy]

Wow David you are super knowledgeable! I am reading the David JJ Rowe (are you this David??) book and I couldn’t find those info that you just provided. Thanks a ton!

By the way, is the white paint on the enamel beneath the George cross genuine? Saw it in a shop window in Leicester square London 2 years ago

View attachment 56692

... the helmet in your photograph attached above has been mess with just a bit... the white paint should not be present therefore incorrect, the background to the cross should be in silver and unless it is very dirty there should be a blue enamel backing to the motto/garter strap that surrounds the cross...

No, I am not that David, David J J Rowe I believe, has been deceased for several years, and I assure you I am very much alive!!!

Since you are reading Rowes' book, I would refer you to pages 132 and 133, particularly the IMPERIAL YEOMANRY helmet entry and the 1st LANCASHIR MOUNTED RIFLE VOLUNTEERS helmet entry... I have both of those helmets in my collection and picture them below...

Cheers,

David

 

[Yeohelmetguy]

thanks so much for the advice! Unfortunately I had polished my badge prior to reading your message. I used metal polish and stopped as soon as I noticed a tinge of rose color started to appear on the laurel leaf. Then I used water to clean instead. Any advice on restoring the gold paint?

View attachment 56695

... water is really bad idea!!! Unless you took the helmet apart... removed the front plate plume spike and base et cetera (which I don't recommend as tabs and screw posts that hold all those pieces to the helmet skull can become very fragile over time and break if you are not extremely careful) moisture will be trapped behind the plate and other fixture which then can cause verdigris to grow on the metal part, a kind of green corrosion that is very difficult to remove entirely and almost impossible on fire gilt without damaging the gilt . If you used anything like Brasso to clean the helmet, those kinds of cleaners are very abrasive and now what you are seeing under the fire gilt that has been rubbed away is the base metal from which the plate is made and then plated.

Understand, the gold that you removed in cleaning the helmet is NOT paint, it is a thin layer of gold that was applied using gold, mercury and an open flame, a very dangerous process that required a great deal of skill and is now illegal to do in most places because of the danger... there are however a very few licensed platers here and there around the world that still practice the technique... it is quite expensive and very different from today's modern electro plating.

My best advice, leave the helmet as it is, since you have already removed some of the fire gilt continued cleaning will only exacerbate the problem. Sorry for not being able to deliver better news... You might want to consider a thin coat of Renaissance Wax to the silver portions of the helmet, careful to avoid the gilt portions as the wax will help slow tarnish growth on the silver plate... the gold will not tarnish but gradually dull with time as things in the air like cigarette smoke and household dust and the like circulate around the helmet.

Cheers,

David

 

[Oberstoskar]

Impressive advice. I’ve learned a lot. Thanks for your help!

 

[Yeohelmetguy]

Impressive advice. I’ve learned a lot. Thanks for your help!

... you are more than welcome; I am glad I could be a minor contributor to and assistance in advancing your understanding and appreciation for this aspect of historical preservation. I think I can safely speak for all the members of this Forum that if you have a question, are unsure of something, you have but to ask, the membership here will happily, and knowledgeable address your questions or concerns!

Cheers,

David