Police Whistle
$25
The Friends of the Queensland Police Museum have struck a limited number of replica police whistles, engraved with the Museum’s QPM initials and the Museums inauguration date of 27 Nov 1893.
These whistles are a respectful nod to our policing history where ‘the job’
was somewhat simpler, a communication device didn’t need to
be recharged, and assistance would come running at the mere blow of a
whistle.
Police whistles have an interesting history, some of which is outlined
below:
The Metropolitan police (Met) whistle replaced the ‘police rattle’ which was a wooden noise-making device in use since 1829. (The rattle-style device is still seen occasionally today at football matches).
Realising the rattle was no longer fit for purpose in the ‘noisy 1880s city environment’ of down-town London, the Met advertised a competition nationally in 1883 for someone to design and provide them with a superior communication device. The winning design was provided by Joseph Hudson (1848–1930), an inventor and skilled toolmaker from Birmingham. Winning this contract saw Hudson and his company, J Hudson & Co., achieve global success, providing whistles to organisations across the world before, during a after each of the world wars. The company today is the largest seller of whistles world-wide.
Of interest to collectors of the modern era was Hudson’s practice of
putting his factory’s address into the body of the whistle. His factory
operated from various addresses as seen below:
|
17 Mark St. Birmingham (J. Hudson workshop)
|
1870 – 1882
|
|
84 Buckingham St. Birmingham
|
1882 – 1884
|
|
131 Barr St. Birmingham
|
1885 – 1888
|
|
13 Barr St. Birmingham
|
1888 – 1909
|
|
244 Barr St. Birmingham
|
1909 Onward
|
The address stamped into the whistle allows modern policing historians
to date a whistle (and often price the item accordingly!)
