J Hudson & Company Celluloid (Plastic) Whistle

An interesting whistle has cropped up on eBay. This acetate / celluloid (a type of plastic and often misidentified as Bakelite, though some books do call these whistles that) is marked "The Metropolitan" and has a maker monogram of J Hudson & Company. The original colour is a dark brown, then called 'walnut'.

Hudson's make thousands of the metal ARP whistles but in all the archives held at Kew I did not find mention of them producing a celluloid whistle (several other companies did) during the Second World War. This whistle was made in the 1930s and probably reused by a member of the ARP or Civil Defence Services.

The lanyard on the whistle does appear to be the style available during the war. An interesting and rare whistle.

Blog updated with information supplied by Bruce Rolph.

J Hudson & Company Celluloid (Plastic) Whistle