A hat to defy India’s dangerous rays
Pith helmets became the ubiquitous mark of those working abroad for the greatest combined manufacturing economy and mercantile trading bloc ever seen: the British Empire.
Yet hardly had the solar topee risen to its iconic status than British imperialism was sinking deep into troubled times. In postwar years, old Army pith helmets suffered a total loss of affection, until grandsons of World War One soldiers took an interest. By then, perhaps, not one in 10,000 of these hats had survived: Army pith helmets pre-1870 are almost entirely lost.
It was partly because they had no official Army presence in uniform regulations, so, regarded no differently to top hats and hunting caps, they went into dustbins or were thrown overboard from ships, a customary practice of those steaming home. There were three traditional places for this hurling of helmets into the
