W Dowler & Sons

W Dowler & Sons Founded 1744 in Birmingham were a large scale manufacturer of various numerous goods noteably Buttons, Vesta matches,hand bells, letter balances,, swords,corkscrews and '''whistles'''.

History

Since the late 18th century Dowler family were in the brass founding buisness and making whistles at least since early 1860s . It was in the 1870s after long legal fights over inharitance between brothers George and William Dowler That the company was named after William Dowler (1876) .

At 1870 a Large Fire that started at the vesta match making department destroyed their factory and it took over half a year to reopen . The tragedy was well covered by the newspapers at the time as Dowler was one of the 20 birmingham companies employing over 500 workers at that time.

It was propably no coincidence that during this year T Yates another Birmingham brass Foundry & whistle maker came out with the first printed whistle catalog we know .

addresses ; 91 Great Charles Street and later Graham Street Works (Since 1901)

The Button factory exsits to this day as W Dowler & Sons Ltd.

Whistles

Dowler was one of the four large british whistle makers in the [[nineteenth century] along with Yates, Dixon & Stevens later to be joined by J.Hudson & Co..

Models & Whistle Types

Beauforts & Cased Beauforts .

General service whistles(GSWs) & Porteous top GSWs .

Button whistles - escargot type whistle with metal buttons or coins at the sides of the barrel . Though Dowler is mostly Known for the above models there are some rare ones are attributed to him .

The Hiat Registered Design of 1894 a combination of an escargot whistle with button sides and a beaufort with mouthpiece, sometimes reffered to as Crest top beaufort .

They Subcontracted whistles from A De Courcy & J Hudson & Co. from about 1904

Body Stamps

Dowler was the Largest supplier of Beaufort whistles to particular police forces during the 1870s. From the 1884 onward GSWs became the main standart with most police forces after J. Hudson & Co. won the contract for supplying the Metropolitan police with whistles in 1883 . And with rare exeptions 19th century stamps baring a specific Police Force name are eith made by Hudson or Dowler . (Dowler Being much scarcer ).

Police Forces stamps either on Beaufort or GSWs whistles made by Dowler ;

Salford Police, Maidstone Police , Bradford Police,

Leeds Police, Edinburg Police, Wakefield City Police,

Brighton Police, Hove Police, Leicester Police,

Wallacey police, Liverpool City Police , Bristol Police,

Lancshire County Constabulary, W R C Police (West Riding Constabulary), Derby borough police The Knoxcall Police Call,& Others Like "Manchester Police" some times numbered or with additional stamp ; " A Inspector " & Number Or " Superintendent " & letter .

Other Stamps on GSWs ;

"Manchester Highway Department " Numbered .

" International" and "International police whistle " A Brand name for Dowler cheaper GSW model.

The First Dated Army whistle 1894 Year stamp appears on a Dowler GSW.

W.Dowler & Sons Graham St. Works.

G.P.O ( General Post Office ).

Stamps with Ditributors name ; Chas Prater & Co.( London ), Smith & Wright ,Reynolds & Co.( London ).

Very rare whistles of 1894 Reg. Design are stamped on the body : "'Hiat' constabulary Reg. design No.225730 " with buttons of Devon constabulary , Cambridgeshire borough police and Durham city police .

"Dowler & Sons , Birm. ( On the inside part of button whistles ).

External links

• Whistle Museum W Dowler & Sons American Civil War Button & a Button escargot whistle .

• 'Hiat' Constabulary whistle Picture |