Basic Information

The basics

A whistle used by the Air Raid Precautions (later the Civil Defence) during WWII and maker marked for J. Hudson & Co. of Birmingham, England. I believe this pattern of whistle is the No. 15. Metropolitan. Comes with chain.

Item Condition

So you know what to expect

Fine aged condition with some instances of minor wear and tear, including minor marks and scratches in some areas. No compromising damages are present and the whistle retains its functionality.

Item Date

Timeline origin

WWII era. The ARP was later renamed the Civil Defence during the war, meaning this whistle more likely dates to the earlier years of the Second World War or perhaps slightly before.

Historical and Contextual Information

For your own interest

Whistles like this one were often used to communicate orders to troops in the battlefield throughout both WWI and WWII as well as many other conflicts of around the same time. 

Whistles were used by Royal Navy personnel as well as infantry units. During WWII, the ARP (later the Civil Defence) also used whistles to direct and control crowds of civilians during air raids and RAF air crews also used them to sound an emergency evacuation order in their aircraft.

Using whistles, NCOs could issue orders to troops with a sound that pierced the overwhelming noise of the battlefield. Without the whistle, troops would be far more disorientated.

Although today they are largely outdated, whistles like this were sometimes still used even into the 80s.