Dating A Mk I Helmet By Maker and Batch No.

[SimonMoore]

Hi all, it's been a while since I have posted on here, partly as whenever I have a question there is invariably an exisitng thread there to answer it! In this instance  my searches have been in vain. My query; is there any way to roughly date British Mk I helmets using a combination of the makers mark and batch number? I have recently been gifted an example by an incredibly generous friend in Australia. It will date from 1917 on due to the inclusion of the rubber ring in the liner but I would, if possible, like to narrow things down beyond that. Maker is FS; Thomas Firth and Sons and the batch number is 151. Photos to follow when I get chance.

[scottmarchand]

A well covered topic - the search bar is your fiend!
 

 

 

[JMB1943]

Simon,

 

I have recorded about two dozen FS batch numbers, the highest of which is 288.

If you can discover when the contract was awarded (and ended) you might be able to narrow the time period.

There is a slight wrinkle, however, in that there is also a series of helmets that is stamped FKS and a batch number.

This also is believed to denote Thos. Firth; my highest batch number from about a dozen is 110.

This may lead to a confusion of contracts.

A point estimate of the total number of FS batches can be made, and is 298; your helmet steel was therefore produced about halfway through the contract run——BUT this assumes that the amount of steel produced was the same for each heat/batch!

 

Regards,

JMB

[SimonMoore]

Many thanks for the responses chaps, very useful indeed. As for the older topics I clearly wasn't using quite the right search term!