I must say this is a fascinating thread and I feel that I should go read some Kipling and/or Laurie R. King, although I am uncertain of the connection. Jackie can you recommend good starting points for both authors? The George Orwell essay is also very interesting. What are "box-wallah" and "blimps"?

I used Google to do an image search for "wideawake hat" and that led me to this link (which, by the way, also features Sherlock Holmes-style deerstalker caps):

http://www.historyinthemaking.org/catalog/menhat.htm