1888 Met Police whistle ( Comercial St )

[moonbegger]

Hello fellow Ripper Historians . On a recent jaunt into Whitechapel I was fortunate enough to stumble upon this fine artifact , A friend of mine who has an antique stool in Spitalfields antique market had just that morning been given an old box listed as local artifacts , containing plates , cutlery and various other pieces . Sitting in the bottom was this old chestnut .. an 1888, 13 Bar street manufactured, metropolitan Police whistle . I was meeting Ed Stow in the Ten Bells , and after checking it out on line , he confirmed it as the real deal . Now I am not alleging that this whistle and its haunting tone , was at one time in hot pursuit of Jack the Ripper , but given its local provenance and its historically accurate date , I cannot tell you that it was not .

[Monty]

Excellent Moonbegger,

The address indicates a late 1888 - 1909 make. Can I ask, is there a serial number on it?

Monty

[moonbegger]

Excellent Moonbegger,

The address indicates a late 1888 - 1909 make. Can I ask, is there a serial number on it?

Monty

Hello Monty , I cannot find a serial number .. where would it sit ?

[Monty]

At the bottom, near the mouthpiece.

Monty

[moonbegger]

No , not that I can make out , and definitely nothing as prominent as the markings on either side ..

moonbegger .

[Monty]

Ok,

Well its not unusual for them not to have serial numbers. However it must be noted that 'The Metropolitan' whistle was not exclusive to the police. It was available commercially, with the most common purchasers being nightwatchmen.

That said, it looks of the era to me. The scalloped chain loop being a big pointer. Hudson operated at 13 Barr St between 1888 and 1909, and the writing stamp matches 1888-1899, though I've seen slightly different fonts.

All in all, looks good to me. Nice find.

Monty

[GUT]

Nice find, police and/or ripper related or not.

[Wickerman]

This is my Grandfather's Police whistle.

The embossing reads:

J. Hudson & Co.
Birmingham
1915



There is a Patent No. at the top end, beneath the ring.

Patent 5727.08

Most of my family, on my father's side were either military or police.

[moonbegger]

Nice one Jon .. I also have a possible City of London Police whistle , I think its dated around 1935 .. it reads , The ACMECity , Whistle , England . again there is no serial number Monty .

moonbegger

[GUT]

This is my Grandfather's Police whistle.

The embossing reads:

J. Hudson & Co.
Birmingham
1915



There is a Patent No. at the top end, beneath the ring.

Patent 5727.08

Most of my family, on my father's side were either military or police.

Pretty special Jon being your grandfathers.

[drstrange169]

Very pleased to see this thread, as I picked this up at a trash and treasure stall for a couple of dollars about a month ago. Thing that impressed me most is just how loud it is.

[GUT]

Wow they are everywhere.

[yen_powell]

My dad had a matching one from when he was in the RAF Police in the 50/60s. Along with a long, thin, silent (to us) whistle for calling his police dog. When I was a kid I was always blowing it just to watch the dog tilt his head and look at me.

[MacGuffin]

Hi Jon,

This is my Grandfather's Police whistle.

The embossing reads:

J. Hudson & Co.
Birmingham
1915



There is a Patent No. at the top end, beneath the ring.

Patent 5727.08

Most of my family, on my father's side were either military or police.

Beautiful, what a wonderful family heirloom!
I hope whomever inherits it from you will proudly value both its public and personal histories as much as you.

[Wickerman]

Hi Jon,

Beautiful, what a wonderful family heirloom!
I hope whomever inherits it from you will proudly value both its public and personal histories as much as you.

Hi MacGuffin.
Quite so, and I didn't even know it existed until 6 years ago, when my father passed away. He had a small box secreted away at the back of an old chest of drawers. My mother told me this was his box of memorabilia, inside an assortment of personal things, an old watch, some badges, a wallet-sized photo album with some wrinkled pics of all his Army buddies, and this whistle.

It was my mother who told me, that he had told her, it was his father's police whistle.
My Grandfather had been invalided out of the force, being shot while making an arrest. He still made the arrest apparently, but after convalescing, they struck him off on medical grounds.

My Great-Grandfather was also in the police, and one family member was a Detective, apart from being told he emigrated to the US, I know nothing else about him.