Trench Whistle

[Monty12]

apart from India, Burmuda had permanent stores items and marked whistles too.

[Monty12]

In British service it was introduced as : the official date of the introduction of GSW in The British army, MkIV infantry whistle as LoC 9538 -1899 List of changes.
These are what some call the Tube whistle and the war department ones are marked with a Date and sometimes with an arrow and this is not always the case so don't worry about not having an arrow.
Now here is the myth of these whistles they are not officers and neither are they trench whistles, they are other ranks issue with the dates, officers had to buy their own whistle and there was no approved pattern for officers whistles right up to 1938, so anything went from examples i have seen and have.
beware of repros/fakes.
Don't spend lots of money on one for an officer if dated as incorrect, plenty of correct period ones for officers cheap on ebay.
 i have over 500+ whistles and know a lot about them.
Military did not use chains either apart from Military Police, other ranks used what is called a thong and up to 1917 this was stitched or riveted on the whistle.
Officers also used a thong or even had it attached to the sam brown cross strap.

 Another little know fact i will mention are the 1917 and 1918 dated whistles,
 these are different from the earlier years as they were made from tin or steel and are magnetic,
 these two dates are harder to find possible because they rust easy, and here is the reason why , demand for ACME's infantry whistles was greater than capacity
 and combined with a nationwide shortage of brass this succeeded in stopping production more effectively than any ambitious bomb had managed.
Something special was required to solve this problem. Using its telegraphic address, “Ingenuity Birmingham”,
 ACME wired the Government asking if it could use its influence to divert tin plate and steel heading for Cadbury’s chocolate factory in the Bourneville area of Birmingham to whistle production.
 ’Ingenuity’ it was: biscuit tins were shipped 6 miles across the city to be pressed out into whistle parts and the machinery rolled again. Whistle collectors call these the Biscuit Tin Specials and fetch more money than earlier dated ones at times .

 

[303man]

I have this one on my desk, no broad arrow just a 1916 date looks like it had been in the ground with the staining and light pitting.

[Monty12]

Just now, 303man said:

I have this one on my desk, no broad arrow just a 1916 date looks like it had been in the ground with the staining and light pitting.

All good Artillery other ranks issue

[Dave66]

Here’s an interesting broad arrow marked artillery whistle, not the standard Hudson that appears commonly.
I do have a 17 dated Hudson nickel GSW but Indian army marked, so must have been one of the last before they switched over to steel, or they continued with nickel for the Indian contract.

Dave.

[Monty12]

1 minute ago, Dave66 said:

Here’s an interesting broad arrow marked artillery whistle, not the standard Hudson that appears commonly.
I do have a 17 dated Hudson nickel GSW but Indian army marked, so must have been one of the last before they switched over to steel, or they continued with nickel for the Indian contract.

Dave.

Very nice one seen a few like this and can only presume they were whistles work in progress at start of war diverted for WD contracts, The 1917 not all are steel, the first half of 1917 they still were Nickle so both for that year can be found.

[battle of loos]

good morning,

 

Here's my one and only whistle :

 

J. HUDSON Co.
Birmingham
1915

 

PATENT 5727.08

 

the leather patelette is dated 1915 with the arrow

 

 

regards

 

michel

[JMakoul]

So, British Army in WW1 never used chain lanyards on their whistles? I’ve seen several examples with a darkened chain.

[Monty12]

1 hour ago, JMakoul said:

So, British Army in WW1 never used chain lanyards on their whistles? I’ve seen several examples with a darkened chain.

Only Military Police used chains, The leather thong was the normal method of carry. Some used coloured whistle lanyards

 

[PhilB]

On 04/04/2021 at 23:03, Monty12 said:

apart from India, Burmuda had permanent stores items and marked whistles too.

In the book "Collecting Police Whistles and Similar Types" by Gilchrist and Topman, they only list D, I or 1, C and U as government inspection marks. Oddly, I and C are the initial letters of the country concrened but not D or U. There`s no mention of B for Bermuda. Is that mentioned elsewhere?

[Monty12]

1 hour ago, PhilB said:

In the book "Collecting Police Whistles and Similar Types" by Gilchrist and Topman, they only list D, I or 1, C and U as government inspection marks. Oddly, I and C are the initial letters of the country concrened but not D or U. There`s no mention of B for Bermuda. Is that mentioned elsewhere?

It took some research one of those odd things like Cape Colony markings, also Government railways and munitions factory railways, MOD police etc all used arrows as governmett property on their items including whistles. Many out there that unless you are a whistle collector you would have no idea they exist or what they mean

[Monty12]

[JMakoul]

Thank you for all of this great information! 
 

so a 1914 dated Hudson “tube” whistle, with arrow, but marked with a U and and a slash, that is on a chain...

 

Likely saw military service but was sold out for police use? 

[Monty12]

1 minute ago, JMakoul said:

Thank you for all of this great information! 
 

so a 1914 dated Hudson “tube” whistle, with arrow, but marked with a U and and a slash, that is on a chain...

 

Likely saw military service but was sold out for police use? 

Yes many Civil Police brought surplus whistles both post WW1 and 2 even the G.P.O did also, The Kent Police Museum has whistles that were issued to police officers that have dates and also A.R.P on them as they were surplus brought items.

[PhilB]

20 minutes ago, Monty12 said:

It took some research one of those odd things like Cape Colony markings, also Government railways and munitions factory railways, MOD police etc all used arrows as governmett property on their items including whistles. Many out there that unless you are a whistle collector you would have no idea they exist or what they mean

Assuming that’s North Western Railway, weren’t they a private company?

[JMakoul]

One would think, once used in WW1 service, the soldier would just take it home, not turn it in? Forgive my amateur questions. 

[Monty12]

11 minutes ago, PhilB said:

34 minutes ago, Monty12 said:

It took some research one of those odd things like Cape Colony markings, also Government railways and munitions factory railways, MOD police etc all used arrows as governmett property on their items including whistles. Many out there that unless you are a whistle collector you would have no idea they exist or what they mean

Assuming that’s North Western Railway, weren’t they a private company?

North-Western State Railway (NWR) was formed in January 1886 from the merger of the Sind, Punjab and Delhi Railway, the Indus Valley State Railway, the Punjab Northern State Railway, the eastern section of the Sind-Sagar Railway and the southern section of the Sind-Pishin State Railway. The military and strategic concerns of Afghan-Indian border were such that Francis Langford O'Callaghan, was posted from the State Railways as "engineer-in-chief for a number of demanding railway projects, surveys and constructions on the north-west frontier. These were initially military and strategic projects and became part of the NWR network on formation in 1886. The Bolan Pass Railway Construction was completed in 1886. The Khwaja Amran Railway Survey in 1887 included the Khojak Tunnel and the Chaman Extension Railway. The Khojak Tunnel opened in 1891 and the railway reached Chaman on the Afghan border.  State Railway

[PhilB]

Looks like I’m getting confused with the L&NWR!

[Gunner Bailey]

On 05/04/2021 at 15:02, battle of loos said:

good morning,

 

Here's my one and only whistle :

 

J. HUDSON Co.
Birmingham
1915

 

PATENT 5727.08

 

the leather patelette is dated 1915 with the arrow

 

 

regards

 

michel

 

Looks identical to mine (see 1st page) apart from the patina. The distinctive 5 on the date is identical, so the same machine produced both whistles.

[JMakoul]

So the whistle in the photo, that style, is an artillery whistle?

[Monty12]

12 hours ago, JMakoul said:

So the whistle in the photo, that style, is an artillery whistle?

Correct these are artillery issue

[Monty12]

I forgot about this reason for steel whistles in WW1

 

Another little know fact i will mention are the 1917 and 1918 dated whistles,
 these are different from the earlier years as they were made from tin or steel and are magnetic,
 these two dates are harder to find possible because they rust easy, and here is the reason why , demand for ACME's infantry whistles was greater than capacity,
 and combined with a nationwide shortage of brass this succeeded in stopping production more effectively than any ambitious bomb had managed.
Something special was required to solve this problem. Using its telegraphic address, “Ingenuity Birmingham”,
 ACME wired the Government asking if it could use its influence to divert tin plate and steel heading for Cadbury’s chocolate factory in the Bourneville area of Birmingham to whistle production.
 ’Ingenuity’ it was: biscuit tins were shipped 6 miles across the city to be pressed out into whistle parts and the machinery rolled again. Whistle collectors call these the Biscuit Tin Specials and fetch more money than earlier dated ones at times.