59th Regiment of Foot

This is a blue cloth helmet of the 59th Regiment named on the inside to P. H. N. Lake. The helmet comes with its original carry tin lined with a newspaper cutting from the Graphic dated November 9th, 1878. From the newspaper date and since the numbered regiment plates were only worn on the home service helmet from 1878-1881, I believe this example was made anytime from May to December 1878. 

After researching the owner I discovered him to be Lieutenant General Sir Percy Henry Noel Lake. He fought with the 59th as a lieutenant in the 2nd Afghan War and then later with the East Lancashire Regiment as a captain during the Sudan Campaign. He climbed the ranks, becoming Chief of the Canadian General Staff in 1905, General Officer Commanding 7th Indian Division in India in 1911, and Chief of the General Staff in India in 1912. In January of 1916 he was made Commander of the Mesopotamian Force. He was tasked with relieving a 10,000 strong British army besieged by the Ottomans at the town of Kut. His relief armies failed to save the besieged troops, resulting in one of the largest surrenders of British troops to that date. He was recalled to England and served the remainder of the war attached to the Ministry of Munitions. He retired from the army in 1919 marking the end of nearly five decades of military service. He died in British Columbia in 1940.

The helmet is in near mint condition with only a few spots where the gilt has faded and where the cloth shows damage.