Tintype Early White Pickelhaube

G

GKirsch

New member
Hello all, first poster here. I was going through some relics passed down from relatives of long ago and came upon this curious tintype, attached. Unfortunately the tinype is not in great shape, but it's good enough to show some interesting things, most prominently the tall white pickelhaube on the soldier's head. No info accompanies it. This tintype was next to another family relic, a medal from the Fenian Raids, and the dates on this medal read 1866 and 1870. I guess there is a chance that my relative was in the Prussian War AND migrated to Canada where he participated in the Fenian Raid (?) The Medal has on the rim the name of my great great grandfather, R.B. Lattimer, and I know he lived in Caledonia, Ontario for at least part of his life. Other possibilities of the origin of this tintype could be from my grandmother's side, as her maiden name was Bernard, and she married a man with the last name of Kirsch, who came from Germany.
Anyway, I thought this photo might generate some interesting dialogue here. I could find no other images of early WHITE pickelhaube helmets, and I do believe this is an early helmet based on its height. They say that tintypes became popular in the 1850's, but history buffs may be able to narrow down the most likely date of this photo based on many factors, including the boy's outfit.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Ginny
 

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British style home service helmet made from cork covered in white cloth, also worn by Canadian militia units. The spike was copied from the Germans. I am no expert on the Fenian raids 1866-71 but they were defeated and driven back across the border by Canadian and British units. This would explain your medal. You have your GGF name, is there a service number on the rim of the medal? His record of service could be in the archives in Ottawa or Britain. All of the Canadian military archives are on line so I would start there, Caledonia is a small town near the city of Hamilton Ontario .
 
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b.loree said:
British style home service helmet made from cork covered in white cloth, also worn by Canadian militia units. The spike was copied from the Germans. I am no expert on the Fenian raids 1866-71 but they were defeated and driven back across the border by Canadian and British units. This would explain your medal. You have your GGF name, is there a service number on the rim of the medal? His record of service could be in the archives in Ottawa or Britain. All of the Canadian military archives are on line so I would start there, Caledonia is a small town near the city of Hamilton Ontario .
Click to expand...
Thank you for the info. Unfortunately there is no service# on the rim. Just "Pte. R.B. Lattimer Caledonia R. Co." Interestingly the medal is on an old black ribbon, not the traditional red and white striped ribbon. Upon more researching I discovered that the white hats were for warmer weather and called "Sun Helmets", which makes sense.
 
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Well then, you are looking for a Canadian Militia unit based in Caledonia Ontario which took part in fighting the Fenians. That should be easy to research and now you know to go online and look for him in the Canadian Military Archives in Ottawa. Pete. Means Private, each militia battalion was divided up into companies of approximately 100 men. They were given alphabetical designations so yours was Company R.
 
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