Hi all, picked this helmet up the other day. Untouched and from a family complete with history. It's the mild steel type (with 3 holes punched into the rim on each side) for Home Front use only. I think the correct designation for this helmet type is "Mk2 No2 C" - please correct me if I'm wrong! Condition is amazing, no rust, 99% original green rough texture paint. The net certainly has the look of having been on since the war, the lace/ cord appears to have been put on to aid adding foliage etc for camouflage. I've seen plenty of Home Guard photos with heavy foliage on their helmets, they seem to have taken their cammo seriously and were sometimes sent on camouflage courses!
Nice clear stamps on it - BMB (Briggs Motor Bodies, Dagenham) 1941 shell, and a BMB 1940 liner (size 7 1/4).
Here is the history I got with it (from the late soldier's daughter):-
"Private Robert Ferguson of the Argyll And Sutherland Highlanders. He joined in 1939 at Edinburgh and served for the duration of the war.
He was a company hairdresser with the Eighth Army and served in France, Africa (mentioned in dispatches at El Alamein), the invasion of Sicily, Italy, and Germany. He was also stationed for a time in Chesham (Buckinghamshire) where he helped train the Home Guard. This is where he met my Mother and after the war married."
The helmet is obviously nothing to do with his Army service, and appears to be something he picked up when training the Home Guard (and didn't return it!). I'm guessing that he might have been training the Home Guard in perhaps 1941/ 42 - after France, but before service in North Africa? If he was based in Chesham, he might have been with a Company of/ attached to the 11th Buckinghamshire Home Guard Battalion which was based around nearby Amersham.
(This is a great map for HG battalion organisation:- http://www.home-guard.org.uk/hg/struc.html )
Hope you like it!
Best regards, Paul
Nice clear stamps on it - BMB (Briggs Motor Bodies, Dagenham) 1941 shell, and a BMB 1940 liner (size 7 1/4).
Here is the history I got with it (from the late soldier's daughter):-
"Private Robert Ferguson of the Argyll And Sutherland Highlanders. He joined in 1939 at Edinburgh and served for the duration of the war.
He was a company hairdresser with the Eighth Army and served in France, Africa (mentioned in dispatches at El Alamein), the invasion of Sicily, Italy, and Germany. He was also stationed for a time in Chesham (Buckinghamshire) where he helped train the Home Guard. This is where he met my Mother and after the war married."
The helmet is obviously nothing to do with his Army service, and appears to be something he picked up when training the Home Guard (and didn't return it!). I'm guessing that he might have been training the Home Guard in perhaps 1941/ 42 - after France, but before service in North Africa? If he was based in Chesham, he might have been with a Company of/ attached to the 11th Buckinghamshire Home Guard Battalion which was based around nearby Amersham.
(This is a great map for HG battalion organisation:- http://www.home-guard.org.uk/hg/struc.html )
Hope you like it!
Best regards, Paul
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