One of the most iconic, but often understated, pieces of equipment traditionally used by police officers across the country is the police whistle. The distinct trilling sound of a police whistle has become embedded into British culture, often in films and TV after the discovery of a body, or in the midst of a dramatic riot.
Whistles in general have been used since ancient times, often made of clay, bones, or other natural products, and among the earliest uses of whistles in England were in the Crusades and the 100 Years war to coordinate soldiers in a battlefield.
However, the police whistle as we know it was a new and innovative design invented over 50 years after the police were first founded
When modern policing was established by the then Home Secretary and later Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel in 1829, police were equipped with wooden rattles or ‘racks’ which, when spun, would produce a loud ‘clacking’ sound.
These cumbersome and bulky tools worked in the early decades of policing, but by the end of the Victorian period cities in the United Kingdom had swollen in size, becoming both louder and denser overtime. By the late 1870s the rack was increasingly unfit for purpose, being prone to splitting and breaking, whilst also being bulky to store and unwieldy to effective use. British constabularies started searching for a more distinct and powerful alarm and communication system for its officers.
It was the Manchester City Police who first considered replacing wooden rattles with metal whistles and ran a test-run in 1879 before any other UK force, with the Metropolitan Police in London running a similar test a year later.
Both forces found that whilst they were much more convenient to carry around, and were quicker and easier to use in emergencies, the sounds they produced was not loud nor distinct enough to act as effectively in the ever louder British city.
Enter, Joseph Hudson, a Birmingham-based inventor, who founded his own engineering works, J Hudson and Company in 1870. A skilled toolmaker, Joseph Hudson also observed the drawbacks of the police rattle, and that powerful enough whistle would be much more effective replacement, and it was J Hudson and Company who manufactured the whistles first tested by the Manchester City Police in 1879.
When the Metropolitan Police held an open competition to find a replacement to the rattle, Joseph Hudson entered with his own unique and innovative design of whistle. Supposedly inspired by the distinct and ear-catching noise which some instruments make when moving rapidly between two high-pitch tones (known as the trilling effect), Joseph created a two-tone whistle. When blown air will split between two chambers, creating an ear-piercing ‘trilling’ noise far more distinct and powerful than what any single-tone whistle could achieve.
The whistles authoritative sound, combine with its sleek and sturdy form, made it the clear winner of the Metropolitan Police’s competition, and by 1885 J Hudson and Company had patented the first police whistle (patent no. 435), referred to as ‘the Metropolitan’ police whistle. Hudson would make whistles for most police forces in the country, as well as for colonial police forces, but their police whilst would continue to be referred to as the ‘Metropolitan Patent’ or ‘MP whistle’.
By 1900, whilst the UK saw several other notable whistle manufacturers such as Auld, Dowler, Ward, and DeCourcy, J Hudson and Company had become the largest manufacturer and supplier of whistles in the British Empire. Not content with police whistles, J Hudson would also invent and supply the first football referee whistles.
The ‘Metropolitan’ style whistle continued to be used well into the 1980s, especially as a crowd control device, but is now mostly phased out of contemporary police forces except as part of honorary attire.
For people that may have a historic police whistle in their homes, look out of ‘The Metropolitan’ or ‘The Metropolitan Patent’ engraving, which indicates it was used as a police whistle. Then consider any additional engravings which indicate what force it was commissioned for. If there is no mention of police on the engraving, it is possible that the whistle was instead a general service whistle.