10th Light Dragoon Officer’s Tarleton
Helmet
9th Light Dragoon Officer’s Tarleton Helmet
With its flashy fur crest and feather plume the helmets
pictured here are eye catching pieces of Georgian era military headgear that
remained popular with British cavalry units until circa 1812. The helmet is known as the Tarleton helmet
and is named after Banastre Tarleton who led a British legion through the
southern colonies during the American War for Independence. The historical record shows no indication that
Tarleton had anything to do with the design of the helmet. It is known that Tarleton wore this type of
helmet while serving with the 16th Light Dragoons and is the same
type of helmet the members of Tarleton’s Legion worn. It is plausible that he personally incorporated
the helmet into the legion uniform. The
helmet became
synonymous with the legion and was therefore named after
Tarleton. This September we will be
offering two examples of the Tarleton helmet: one from the 10th
Light Dragoons, the other from the 9th Light Dragoons. The 10th Light Dragoons
participated in the Peninsular War and the Battle of Waterloo. During the
Victorian era the regiment was renamed the 10th (The Prince of Wales’s
Own) Royal Hussars and saw action in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, Battle of Ali
Masjid and Battle of El Teb. The 9th
Light Dragoons became the 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers. The 9th has the distinction of
participating in more campaigns in India than any other British
regiment of the period.
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