A Most Rare English 1640’s Civil War “Secrete” Armoured Hat Liner Helmet

Domed skull with a row of holes at the border for stitching into a suitable hat, and upward slits for size adjustment. In superb condition for age. As far as we recall we have only had two other original examples in the past fifty years or so. Although, in the right circles, they are a famous piece of protective Civil War armour used relatively exclusively in this era of the 17th century, one simply never sees them available outside of museum collections. Howard Blackmore, former deputy curator of the Tower of London, in a conversation with us back in the 1970s, we all concluded that it was likely so few exist today outside of the Tower collection, because if any examples that survived the war were placed in ordinary storage, and then found over the past 380 years, without knowing their purpose, unless one knew exactly what it was, it resembles nothing more than a piece of industrial metal work, and presumably thus discarded or scrapped, without ever knowing their importance within Civil War military history. the 17th century, cavalrymen, especially fashion-conscious members of the gentry or aristocracy, who wished to wear fashionable broad-brimmed felt hats, but also retain some level of protection for the head, would employ a hidden helmet called a secrete. This type of helmet could also be worn by civilians, including some of the judges at Charles I's trial, who believed that their safety was threatened. The existence of a number of secrete helmets of a very similar type all stored together in the Tower of London armoury suggests that they were occasionally issued to troops as a uniform piece of military equipment. The secrete was usually a small skull-cap of iron or steel pierced around its rim. The piercing allowed it to be sewn into the inside of a hat, and upward cuts in order to make it adjustable. The secrete was then undetectable to any observer, but offered considerably more protection from edged weapons than could a felt hat alone. Many different designs were used, some had solid domes, others were ring-shaped with a scalloped lower edge, presumably to save weight. A few exceptional examples had a folding cage of bars, which could be drawn down to afford protection to the face when in action. A further type of head protection which could be considered to fall under the same category, as it was intended to deceive the observer and mimic civilian headgear, was an entire broad-brimmed hat made of iron or steel. Such hat-helmets were either covered in cloth, or blackened and given a dulled finish so as to resemble felt. King Charles I of England is recorded as possessing such a helmet.

Code: 23561