African knights - African armour collection thread

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by estcrh

Jim, there are still some unanswered mysteries concerning the use of armor in Khedival Egypt.

From what I can glean from mutiple conflicting sources, mail hauberks and steel French helmets with a cresent on top and a sliding nasel were used from sometime after 1824 to the late 1830s or 1840. It is unclear if the hauberks were produced using the split link key chain mail from England as were the later made mail hauberks but were else would they have purchased brand new matching mail armor at that time. Since the split link key chain was first made by machine in 1924 we can assume that the first Khedival mail hauberks were made sometime after 1824.

Sometime around the late 1830s to 1840 steel French cuirass were introduced, they were paired with a helmet that was either the same or very similar to the earlier steel French helmets with the cresent on top and the sliding nasel.

The mail hauberk was not retired, there is at least one instance reported of Khedival troops (Nubians) being seen parading in mail hauberks around 1854.

I have no firm information on when the steel French cuirass and steel French helmet with the cresent on top and the sliding nasel was last used. I have not seen any reports that they were used during the Sudanese war, but they are said to have been used during the Crimean war (1855 to 1856).

Sometime around 1880, several hundred (600 to 800) split link key chain mail hauberks and steel bowl shaped helmets with split link key chain mail neck guards and sliding nasel and mail gauntlets were ordered from England, some sources say that at least part of the order came from Wilkinson Sword. These armors were said to have been used by some Khedival troops during the doomed Hicks expedition, one report says that one hundred mounted troops wearing these mail hauberks were with the Hicks expedition.

There are apparently a few other types of armor used in Khedival Egypt, one print shows a very French looking helmet and steel cuirass being worn by two Egyptian mounted troops, these is one photo showing a few similar armors hanging on the wall of an Egyptian museum.

One other strange looking steel bowl helmet with no sliding nasel has turned up as well, there are a couple of photos of it.

I have posted a few photos, due to the forums lack of inline image attachments they will probably not be in order, you will have to figure them out.

I have put three figures together showing the stages of Khedival armor, on the left is the older mail hauberk with the French helmet, in the middle is the French helmet with the French cuirass, on the right is the later made English helmet and mail hauberk. Also shown is a photo of the unusual brass helmet and cuirass and a detail from the print showing similar armor. Two photos of the unusual bowl shaped helmet.

Taking the question of English produced armour...It appears so...

From Wikipedia I Quote" During the late 19th and early 20th century mail was used as a material for bulletproof vests, most notably by the Wilkinson Sword Company. Results were unsatisfactory; Wilkinson mail worn by the Khedive of Egypt's regiment of "Iron Men" was manufactured from split rings which proved to be too brittle, and the rings would fragment when struck by bullets and aggravate the damage. The riveted mail armour worn by the opposing Sudanese Madhists did not have the same problem but also proved to be relatively useless against the firearms of British forces at the battle of Omdurman. During World War I Wilkinson Sword transitioned from mail to a lamellar design which was the precursor to the flak jacket.Unquote.

In effect this is what the Hicks Iron Men were equipped with and may be viewed at http://www.ottoman-uniforms.com/egyp...pedition-1883/ from which I have extracted the following ~Quote.
Hicks Expedition (1883): Khedive's Zirkhagi - the "Iron Men" or Cuirassiers
Pre-WW1 Wilkinson's chainmail vest.
1856-1882 Mounted Palace Guard.

Below - This 1882 illustration, shows a helmet used by the Khedive's Zirkhagi: Iron Men (Cuirassiers) much like the UK made ones :
Deeply-domed helmets (similar to one on display in the National Army Museum, UK pictured below) With separately-applied brow plate;
Adjustable nasal.
Only the small spike ball-finial is missing.

​Khedive's Zirkhagi, the "Iron Men" or Cuirassiers (they were now part of the Khedival Guard). Armed with sabres and pistols, these wore chain-mail armour and metal helmets with nose-guards” .

An illustration from The Graphic (c.1883) ‘Egyptian Cuirassier’. This particular illustration was extracted from a larger grouping of 1883 Hick's Expedition soldiers, seen in The Graphic (24 November, 1883): 516.
This 1883 illustration, shows three key parts to the "Iron Men" equipment:
Helmet much like the UK made ones.

Wilkinson Sword Company coat of mail .
In particular, his right rein-hand is protected by a mail gauntlet - 1860 Wilkinson Sword Co. "Gauntlets").
The right rein-hand gauntlet is completely covered in mail.
Whereas, the left (sword) hand gauntlet is only partially covered in mail, leaving the leather hand portion, which would be protected by the basket-hilt of his sword - which is a standard French Army heavy cavalry sword, dating from the Napoleonic period, as these were sold in large quantities to the Egyptian and Turkish Armies.
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According to 'Khedive Ismail's Army', by John P. Dunn (2013) - “One squadron maintained a different organisation.

(a) 1860 Wilkinson Sword Co. "Coats of Steel Chainmail".
These were the 'Split link mail hauberk', made in England for export.
These mail shirts used by the forces of the Khedive of Egypt in the 1800s until they were replaced with a French made steel cuirass around 1840.
In the 1880s, the Khedive Tewfik ordered from a Birmingham firm 600 hauberks made of split rings for the Egyptian army under Colonel Hicks, and are said to have 'proved worse than useless'.

(b) 1860 Wilkinson Sword Co. "Gauntlets".
As has been observed in the illustration from The Graphic (c.1883) ‘Egyptian Cuirassier’ (above), the Wilkinson Sword Company's gauntlets were designed as a distinctly left, and right handed pairs:
The right rein-hand gauntlet is completely covered in mail.
Whereas, the left (sword) hand gauntlet is only partially covered in mail, leaving the leather hand portion, which would be protected by the basket-hilt of his sword - which is a standard French Army heavy cavalry sword, dating from the Napoleonic period, as these were sold in large quantities to the Egyptian and Turkish Armies.

(c) "Iron Men" helmet (Wilkinson's Sword-Proof Helmet).
Birmingham, UK Helmets Supplied to the Khedive of Egypt’s Regiment of Iron Men. In 'Oriental Armour', by H. Russell Robinson (1967), it is stated:
“now in the Tower Collection (which would now be the ‘Royal Armouries’) – the helmet shown with which is one of many made in Birmingham for the Khedive of Egypt’s regiment of Iron Men."

Information from Auctions Imperial (2012), indicates that deeply-domed helmets (similar to one on display in the National Army Museum, UK pictured below), from the Sudan surmounted by a spike ball- finial, with separately-applied brow plate and adjustable nasal guard. And including a camail woven of heavy split rings. The description of this helmet included the note:

"Helmets of this type were made in Birmingham, originally for the bodyguard of the Khedive of Egypt, known as the "Iron Men" (Auctions Imperial, 2012).

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This helmet (now in the National Army Museum), was once part of the Tower Collection; and the original commentary was: “now in the Tower Collection – the helmet shown with which is one of many made in Birmingham for the Khedive of Egypt’s regiment of ‘Iron Men’. The equipment was completed with a mail shirt made of split rings-and when the mail was struck by Sudanese bullets the brittle rings shattered and caused appalling wounds. The Sudanese, it would appear, only used the helmets they captured from the Egyptians, preferring the old shirts they had to the new ones fraught with so much risk.”

It also notes that in their original form, these Sudanese helmets with their long chainmail neck curtains were “sewn to a thickly quilted lining which extends to the shoulders, across the lower face, and then down to form a cuirass which laces up under the left arm.”

Finally, it appears that Wilkinson Sword Co. catalogues, from the 1860's were selling, "coats of steel chainmail, gauntlets and sword-proof helmets." Unquote.