Pith Helmet

Brief Description

Foreign Service Helmet, 1876-1902 pattern, as used by Winston Churchill in South Africa.

The pith helmet, also known as the safari helmet, is a lightweight cloth-covered helmet made of sholapith. Pith helmets were often worn by European travelers and explorers, in the varying climates found in Africa, Southeast Asia, and the tropics, but have also been used in many other contexts.

They were routinely issued to European military personnel serving overseas "in hot climates" from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century.