Original Item. One Only. This British Officer’s spiked helmet dates from 1902 probably up until World War One. It is from THE WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT raised in 1685 by King James II to face the Monmouth Rebellion as Col. Hale’s Regiment of foot. It later became known as the 14th Regiment of Foot. It was in Boston at the time of the Boston Massacre but did not take part. It served at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777.
It later fought in the Peninsula wars under Wellington and was at WATERLOO in 1815. It was in the Crimean War, the Second Anglo-Afghan war and the Boer War. It served on the Western Front in 1914 and the Gallipoli Campaign in WWI and in Southeast Asia in WWII. As one of Britain’s oldest Regiments of Foot, it went everywhere.
This helmet, known as a Blue Cloth helmet, has all its brass mounts including the chained chinstrap. The Regimental Helmet Plate bears the Regiment’s “RUNNING HORSE” logo under the motto NEC ASPERA TERRENT (Afraid Of No Hardships) and is in overall very good display condition. It also bears the motto HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE, the motto of the Order of the Garter, which translates to “Shame be to him who thinks evil of it.”
The helmet is in very good overall condition, with the leather and cloth in great shape. The interior lining is mostly intact, and it also has a small handwritten label over the right ear giving the size as 6 3/4, though the rest of the label has fallen off over the years. Ready to display.