The British military whistle, a device through which air is forced into a cavity or against a thin edge in a short tube to produce a loud sound. Introduced as a general issue item for field signals around 1877 using a stop hole to play notes, but never replaced the bugle for field calls at this time. After a few military campaigns in the late part of the 19th C it was soon brought to notice that buglers were becoming a snipers target to cut off Buglers orders on the battlefield, This brought about a search for an item to signal orders in the field that was small and could be used by Officers and other ranks alike with very little training. It took some 10 years before they finally adopted in 1899 as the official whistle the introduction of GSW (General Service Whistle) in The British army, MkIV infantry whistle as LoC 9538 - 189 Inspite of it being called the GSW The Artillery and Cavalry had their own patterns, as did the Royal navy have their own way of marking them and later in WW2 the R.A.F. There are a few myths about these dated examples which can still be found very easily, Dated whistles are not officers issue neither are they Trench whistles, these are just fanciful terms used by Dealers, Auction houses and books. Officers had to buy their own whistles. There are many to collect British and Commonwealth examples from 1899 until the present day the MKIV is still serving.       Written by Bruce Rolph Oct 2021.

1889	1890	1891	1892 none seen	1893	1894	1895 none seen

1896 none seen	1897 none seen	1898	1899	1900	1901	1902

1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909

1910	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916

1916	1917	1918	1919 very rare	1920 none seen	1921 none seen	1922

1923	1924	1925	1926	1927 none seen	1928	1929 none seen

1930 none seen	1931 none seen	1932 none seen	1933	1934	1935	1936

1937	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943

1944	1945	1946 none seen	1947	1948	1949	1950

1951	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956

1957 none seen	1958 none seen	1959 none seen	1960 none seen	1961	1962 none seen	1963 none seen

1964 none seen	1965 none seen	1966 none seen	1967	1968	1969 none seen	1970

1971