Before 1915, the officers and soldiers British Army did not use helmets as we now understand them. That is, they were not issued with - or required to privately purchase - headgear which was designed to provide protection from battlefield injury.

For most of the 19th century, the standard issue headgear for British soldiers was the shako. The shako originated in eastern Europe as a development of traditional Hungarian rural headgear, and became a part of the uniform of Hungarian hussars before becoming more widely known in European military culture. The British Army began wearing the shako in the late 1790s, and continued to wear the shako in various forms for the next 80 years. Shakos provided no protection aside from perhaps a small amount of protection from sabre strokes. The main advantage of the shako was decorative; they looked smart and had the effect of increasing the height of the person wearing it, thereby making them appear more intimidating. Alongside shakos, some regiments of the British Army wore different kinds of headgear during the first three quarters of the 19th century. The Grenadier Guards (and later the Coldstream Guards and Scots Guards as well as some cavalry regiments) wore bearskins, some hussar and artillery regiments wore busbies, and fusilier regiments wore smaller racoon-pelt bearskins. Also worn were various types of forage cap. These were made of cloth, had no peaks and were worn on one side of the head. These continued in use throughout the century as working or informal dress in numerious varients for several regiments.

Aside from these items of headgear, British soldiers began wearing helmets made of Indian cork (or, shola pith) in India during the 1840s. They were worn in tropical climates because they were lightweight and provided protection from the sun and rain. Various versions were used, and eventually developed into what is now popularly known as the "pith helmet". Between the 1840s and 1860s, these developed into the officially issued Foreign Service helmet, which became widely issued to British and colonial forces serving in hot and tropical climates. The "pith" helmet was formally issued as the Wolesley pattern helmet from 1899, and was a feature of British Army uniforms in hot and tropical climates until it was formally withdrawn for everyday wear in 1948.

In around 1878, the British Army adopted the Home Service helmet. These were based on the pith helmet as well as the pickelhaube worn by the Prussian Army. They were also closely related to the custodian helmet, introduced in Britain for the Metropolitan Police in the 1860s and still worn by several police forces in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Most Home Service helmets were made of cork - as were the Foreign Service helmets - and covered with cloth. They also featured regimental badges and ornamental spikes on the crown. Infantry and cavalry regiments had spikes on the crown, and artillery, engineers and other corps had balls. Most Home Service helmets were covered with dark blue/black cloth, but some light infantry regiments had green covers, and some volunteer units (the predecessors of the Territorial Army and modern Army Reserve) wore grey. Some special headgear remained, including the bearskins, busbies and fusilier caps as well as the feather bonnets and tam o'shanter worn by some Scottish regiments.

The British Army introduced a new khaki uniform, called Service Dress, in 1902. This replaced the traditional uniform based around the red coat (or blue or green coat depending on regiment and corps) for everyday wear, although khaki uniforms had already been common on overseas service for decades. The introduction of Service Dress meant that the Home Service helmet was no longer worn with the everyday uniform, but was reserved for full-dress uniform. When wearing Service Dress, British soldiers were initially issued new types of forage cap. These were unpopular, and were replaced with peaked cloth caps from 1905. These peaked cloth caps were what the British Army wore in combat when it was first deployed to continental Europe in August 1914.

All these types of headgear are still worn by various elements of the British armed forces. The Royal Marines wear a white Wolesley pattern pith helmet as part of their full-dress uniform, and the full-dress uniforms of several line infantry regiments include the Home Service helmet. The bearskin is most famously worn by the five regiments of Foot Guards, as well as some cavalry regiments, and the busby continues to be worn by the Royal Horse Artillery in their full-dress uniform.