Secrete (helmet)

In the 17th century, cavalrymen, especially fashion-conscious members of the gentry or aristocracy, who wished to wear fashionable broad-brimmed felt hats, but also retain some level of protection for the head, would employ a hidden helmet called a secrete.

This type of helmet could also be worn by civilians, including some of the judges at Charles I's trial, who believed that their safety was threatened.

The existence of a large number of secrete helmets of a very similar type all stored together in the Tower of London suggests that they were occasionally issued to troops as a uniform piece of military equipment.

A few exceptional examples had a folding cage of bars, which could be drawn down to afford protection to the face when in action.

A further type of head protection which could be considered to fall under the same category, as it was intended to deceive the observer and mimic civilian headgear, was an entire broad-brimmed hat made of iron or steel.