page_title: J Hudson & Co
section_title: 1883–1908
hierarchical_section_title: J Hudson & Co / History / 1883–1908
caption_attribution_description: English: Part of the collection of police whistles in West Midlands Police Museum, Sparkhill, Birmingham, England.
context_page_description: J Hudson & Co was founded in the 1870s in Birmingham by Joseph Hudson and his brother James Hudson. The company became a manufacturer of whistles and continues as Acme Whistles. Acme is the world's largest and most famous producer of whistles. They are headquartered in the Jewellery Quarter district of Birmingham, England.
context_section_description: Joseph Hudson started working at the age of 12. He moved to Bent & Parker, a maker of army supplies and whistles in Birmingham. In 1870, aged 22, he started his own business with younger brother James.
  In 1883 Hudson began tinkering in his toolshed to make gadgets to sell, including whistles. After observing local police struggling to communicate with rattles, he realised that his whistle could be used as a tool. As the story goes, Hudson, a violin player, accidentally dropped his violin and it shattered on the floor. Observing how the discordant sound of the breaking strings travelled, Hudson had the idea to put a pea in the whistle. This gave it an ear splitting rattle that could grab attention even a mile away. After a demonstration at Scotland Yard, Hudson had his first sale.
  This 1884 contract with the police gradually made Hudson the largest whistle manufacturer for British Empire police forces, military, sports, railways and many others. By the 1890s, Hudson faced the rise of many competitor makers and companies.
  Highlights of early company history include:
  1895: Introduction of the Acme Siren
  1898: Hudson purchases Black & Co.
  1898: J Barrall exits the whistle-making Business.
  1901: Hudson makes Stevens & Sons whistles.
  1904: Hudson purchases R A Walton.
  1907: Hudson purchases S Auld Whistles, continuing to manufacture their models especially the Round " pignose " type known as 'Glasgow type police call'.
  1904: Hudson fills orders (along with De Courcy) for W Dowler & Sons who stops manufacturing whistles.
  During this period, Coney & Co. stops making whistles and Hudson makes their models.
  In early 1900 Hudson makes whistles on a small scale for Bent & Parker.
  At an unknown date c. late 1890s, early 1900 T Yates stops manufacturing whistles.
  1903 H A Ward stops making whistles. ( Year of death )
  By 1908, Hudson and De Courcy were the two major whistle makers in England.
caption: Birmingham City Police whistles in the West Midlands Police Museum
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "SLT-A57", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2014:03:24 17:04:22", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 3, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "376", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1178", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5331", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:03:15 14:53:53", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:03:15 14:53:53", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "6017/1280", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "30", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4908", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3204", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1052", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "45", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[30, 30, 14/5, 14/5]", "EXIF LensModel": "DT 30mm F2.8 Macro SAM"}