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The 'pith helmet' (also known as the 'sun helmet', 'topee', 'sola topee', 'salacot' or 'topi') is a lightweight helmet made of cork or pith, typically from the ''sola'' (Indian swamp growth, ''Aeschynomene aspera'' or ''A. paludosa'') or a similar plant [1], with a cloth cover, designed to shade the wearer's head from the sun. It was formerly much worn by Westerners in the tropics; today it is most frequently used in Vietnam. (The form 'solar topee' is folk etymology - the name comes from 'sola', and is not connected - etymologically - with the sun in any way.)

Contents

Origins

Colonial period

Home Service helmet

Use during the World Wars

Civilian use

Modern survivals

Origins

Crude forms of pith helmets had existed as early as the 1840s, but it was around 1870 that the pith helmet became popular with military personnel in Europe's tropical colonies. The Franco-Prussian War had popularized the German ''Pickelhaube'', which may have influenced the definitive design of the pith helmet. Such developments may have merged with a traditional design from the Philippines. The alternative name ''salacot'' (also written ''salakhoff'') appears frequently in Spanish and French sources and come from the Tagalog word ''salacsac'' (or Salaksak). Emilio Aguinaldo and the Philippine military used to wear the pith helmet from the Spaniards alongside the straw hat during the Revolution and the Philippine-American War.
Originally made of pith with small peaks at the front and back, the helmet was covered by white cloth, often with a cloth band (or puggaree) around it, and small holes for ventilation. Military versions often had metal insignia on the front and could be decorated with a brass spike or ball-shaped finial. The chinstrap could be in leather or brass chain, depending on the occasion. The base material later became the more durable cork (indeed, another common Spanish name literally translates as ''cork helmet''), although still covered with cloth and frequently still referred to as "pith" helmets.

Colonial period

This form of headdress is now associated strongly with the former British Empire. However, the pith helmet was used by all European colonial powers, and during the 1880s even by the United States Army in the south west. It was commonly worn by white officers commanding locally recruited soldiers in the colonial troops of France, Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Imperial Germany and the Netherlands, as well as civilian officials in their tropical territories. White troops serving in the tropics usually wore pith helmets, although on active service they were sometimes replaced by more comfortable and less conspicuous alternatives such as the wide brimmed slouch hats worn by US troops in the Philippines and by British Empire forces in the later stages of the Boer War.

Home Service helmet

Parallel to the development of the sun helmet, a broadly similar helmet, of dark blue cloth over cork and incorporating a bronze spike, was adopted for military wear in non-tropical areas, although it was rarely thought of as a true "pith helmet". Modelled on the German ''Pickelhaube'', this headdress was first adopted by the British Army (which called it the "Home Service Helmet") in 1878, followed by the United States Army in 1881. The British version was worn on most occasions by line infantry, artillery and engineers until 1902 when the introduction of khaki peaked caps relegated it to full dress. The blue cloth helmets worn by American mounted troops until 1901 were particularly elaborate, being decorated with plumes and cords in the colours (yellow or red) of their branches of service.
The Home Service Helmet is still worn by some British Army bands or regimental drummers on ceremonial occasions today. It is closely related to the custodian helmet still worn by a number of police forces in England.

Use during the World Wars

During the Anglo-Zulu War, British troops dyed their white pith helmets with tea for camouflage. Soon khaki-coloured pith helmets became standard issue for service as well.
Pith helmets were widely worn during World War I by British Empire, Turkish, Belgium, French and German colonial troops fighting in the Middle East and Africa.
Helmets of this style (but without true pith construction) were used as late as World War II by European and American military personnel in hot climates. Included in this category are the sun helmets worn in North Africa by Italian troops, South African Army and Air Force units and Germany's Afrika Korps, as well as similar helmets used to a more limited extent by U.S. and Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater. The British Army formally abolished the tropical helmet in 1948.

Civilian use

Such was the popularity of the pith helmet that it became a common civilian headgear for Westerners in the tropics from the end of the 19th century. The civilian pith helmet usually had the same dimensions and outline as its contemporary military counterpart though it lacked decorative extras such as badges. It was worn by men and women, old and young, both on formal and casual occasions, until the Second World War. Until the 1930s there was a widespread assumption that wearing this form of headdress was necessary for people of European origin to avoid sunstroke in the tropics - indigenous peoples were assumed to have acquired some form of natural immunity over many generations. Modern medical opinion holds that some form of wide brimmed but light headdress is highly advisable in strong sunlight for people of all races to avoid skin cancers and overheating.

Modern survivals

The Royal Marines still wear white "Wolseley pattern" helmets of the same general design as the old pith helmet as part of their number 1 or dress uniform. These date from 1912 in their present form and are made of natural cork covered in white cloth on the outside and shade green on the inside. Decoration includes a brass ball ornament at the top, helmet plate and chin chain. A similar headdress is worn by the Thai and Tongan Royal Guards as well as the Compagnie des Carabiniers du Prince of Monaco and by the Sri Lankan Police as part of their dress uniform.
British diplomats in tropical postings, Governors General, Governors and colonial officials continued to wear the traditional white helmets as part of their ceremonial white uniforms until the practice died out during the 1970s and '80s. The ceremonies marking the end of British rule in Hong Kong in 1997 were probably the last occasion on which this style of headdress was seen as a symbol of Empire.

After World War II, the Viet Minh of Vietnam copied the pith helmet from the former French colonizer, and adopted it as their own. Today it is still widely worn by civilians in Vietnam but no longer appears to be part of the military uniform. In design the Vietnamese model was similar to the pre-World War II civilian type, but covered in jungle green cloth, sometimes with a metal insignia at the front or back.
Sun helmets of plastic material but traditional design are still worn today by some mail carriers of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). White colored helmets with black ribbons (virtually identical to the one pictured above, belonging to Harry Truman) were the standard duty head gear used by highway traffic officers in the Dominican Republic's National Police up until the begining of the 21st century, when these units were replaced by the creation of the ''Autoridad Metropolitana de Transporte'' (AMET) corps, who use dark green Stetson hats instead.
The pith helmet has also seen use as a form of identification by U.S. Marine Corps rifle range instructors at Parris Island and San Diego, similar to the campaign hat worn by drill instructors.