In silver-nickel, maker marked and dated "J. HUDSON & Co BIRMINGHAM 1915" on the shaft, marked "PATENT 5727-08" on the cap, the adjoining loop with a full-length braided brown neck cord fed through it, measuring 81.7 mm in length x 16 mm in diameter, contact marks, very fine.
Footnote: British forces were the first to make use of whistles in the trenches of the First World War. The whistles were made by J. Hudson & Company, which was later bought out by ACME Whistles. They continue to manufacture whistles today. The original whistle was not made for the trenches. The cylindrical whistles which began to be manufactured in 1875 were meant for the Metropolitan Police and were known as "Pig Nose" or the "Glasgow Police Call". Many police officers at the time attributed their safety on duty to these whistles. During the First World War, the production of whistles changed when J. Hudson & Company created the first military whistle, called the Hudson officer’s trench whistle. These whistles normally had J. Hudson and Birmingham stamped on them along with the date. The British army was among the first to use whistles on the front and in the trenches. They were provided to higher ranking officers and had a leather lanyard or strap which was used to keep the whistle from being lost during battle. The whistles were used to coordinate movements across companies. Commands for coordinated movements could be relayed down the trenches with greater efficiency. With the din of battle overpowering vocal commands, a sharp trill from the whistles was a better option. Trench whistles provided a sound that would otherwise not be found on the front. To better communicate, a series of trench commands were created. The one that was used most often was to signal going over the top. Whistles were also used to alert artillerymen that their guns were about to fire so they could avoid injury from the recoil. While the British military was the first to use whistles in the trenches in the First World War, the use of whistles soon spread to the Commonwealth regiments fighting alongside the British, such as Canadian and South African regiments.