Brodie Helmet

The helmet first used by the British Army in WW1 became "normal issue" around the Somme battle (1st July 1916) when they were issued en masse to soldiers. They had been trench equipment from late 1915 - as one battalion left the trenches, they left behind the helmets for use by the replacement battalion - rather than personal issue to individual soldiers and would generally only be seen on the front line.

Brodie Helmet - wikipedia article

There are also a number of variations in manufacture that help provide additional dating information for photographs/film clips with British soldier wearing such helmets.

The date is significant for anyone looking at Easter Rising photos. Soldiers involved in the Easter Rising did not have helmets so any photo labelled as Easter Rising that shows a soldier wearing a helmet isn't an Easter Rising photo. If it's a photo in Ireland, then the chances are it's from the War of Independence/Tan War dating from January 1919 onwards. There don't seem to be too many photos of British soldiers in Ireland in the period after the Easter Rising and before the War of Independence.

Two photos on the following Easter Rising resource gallery show British soldiers in helmets and are not Easter Rising photos

http://www.easter1916.ie/index.php/gallery/

(thankfully the photos that were labelled as British Army veterans watching/firing on republican/rebel forces are now correctly labelled as Irish Citizen Army).



1915 Brodie had a shallow brim, a raw rim, small loops for a 2 piece leather chin strap

1916 Brodies (Mk I) had a different angle on the slope of the helmet and had a rim around the outer edge of the helmet. This pattern was introduced in April 1916.