J Hudson & Co - Body Stamps

Body Stamps

Hudson stamped general service whistles have been used by many police forces, railway companies, fire brigades and other organisations. Many of Hudson stamps carry the address of the manufacturer, and supply an easy tool to date. Address stamps are more commonly found on the GSWs than other types as the Escargot-type. Notable body stamps include:

• Police small arms inspection marks, or army broad arrow stamps.
• Metropolitan police whistles had a hand engraved number at the back of the very early ones and punched on later ones. These exist in various forms and have been classified as MP-1 to MP-22.
• The Mark Street address is not known to have been used on any whistles, and beside the addresses mentioned at the top table, the address Barr Street Hockley was used on many whistles made after World War I.
• The stamp of 131 Barr Street is extremely rare on Escargot-type.
• Early general service whistles have a Patent & J Hudson & Co stamp on the diaphragm.
• "Acme" remains a common stamp on Hudson whistles and so does the reversed name "Emca".
• At times initials consisting of a single letter or two are used as abbreviations; 'MH' for Mental Hospital 'FB' for fire Brigade' P' for prison or police 'T' for tramway and others.
• Stamps of particular model or popular names at one time or another, such as "International", "The King's Own" or "Taxi Call".