Head protection in England before the first world war

MAN HAS SOUGHT to protect himself from physical injury resulting either fro m the vicissitudes of an arbitrary natural environment or from the calculat ed activity of his fellow creatures since at least the beginning of recorde d time. The earliest substantial British evidence of this activity dates fr om shortly after the Roman invasion of 55 BC. The head has always been seen by both assailant and defender as a region of particular vulnerability, where an incapacitating blow might most effectiv ely be landed. We present an overview of the evolution and development of E nglish military head protection through the ages, with particular reference to the advances made in metallurgical technology at Greenwich through the course of the 16th century. Much of this represents original research by the authors (particularly ARW) , published here for the first time. We include the first metallographic da ta on armor excavated from the Wisby grave-pits (1361), the first scientifi c analysis of the textile composition of medieval helmet linings from the W allace Collection, and the first metallurgical study of the Windsor Castle suit, the personal armor of King Henry VIII, perhaps England's most famous monarch. We combine this with our own experimental data, also previously un published, relating to the attack energy available from ancient weaponry (w hose technology determines the design of defenses, then as now) in an attem pt to assess the effectiveness of helmets. Finally, we set this in the cont ext of contemporary medical technology. The latter is found to be woefully inadequate when presented with serious head injuries. Nevertheless, mortali ty from battlefield injury has been reduced from ancient times to the prese nt day, despite advances in weapons technology.