John Westwood The first Glasgow Whistle Maker & Samuel Auld Whistles Breaking News ! A. Strauss

John. M. Westwood *  whistle maker  b.1856 – d. 1886
His family (James Westwood His Dad) seems to have come from New York with his other brothers, all in the brass foundry business (His brothers in the trade James, Robert, Alexander ) & a relative named Andrews who shows up later as  working with him).
John opened his own business in 1872 as Tinsmith and Gas Fitter at 73 Cumberland St. Calton, Glasgow .
                      Excerpt from 1973 Directory.Westwood made a whistle which later became the model identified with S. Auld whistles.

In about 1875 – 6 He formed the GLOBE BRASS FOUNDRY at 248 Gallowgate St. with Samuel Auld advertised as AULD & WESTWOOD  the partnership dissolved May 77 and signed Oct. 77 after about two years of making whistles together .
While Auld  moved to 240 Gallowgate when the partnership dissolved, Andrew Westwood  stayed there ( At 248) for a while as a Brass Founder & Gas Fitter,

John Westwood  continued on his own and in 1882 he is on 46 West-muir, Parkhead Glasgow. ( Home at 22 Gray Lane with his dad.)

Thus we learn that S. Auld started much earlier than previously thought. !!!
And the whistles to come will be entwined in the article with some being in question as to who designed and made; Westwood / Auld & Westwood /or later by one of them .
Auld became a prominent name in the whistle making business and Hudson purchaced his tools & whistle stock c 1907 . Auld History was dealt with in the past but should be reviewed in the light of this new search.
Many more of the whistles he made are dew in another article and here there are just few examples. (We omitted many and did not use any of his Snail type whistles some seen in other posts here)

 Addresses :

1872 – 73 Cumberland St. Calton,  Glasgow.
1876 –  ‘Globe Brass Foundry’ 248 Gallowgate w. Samuel Auld
Globe Brass Foundry Auld & Westwood 248 Gallowgate Glasgow

1883 – John Westwood is on 46 West-muir , Westmuir St Parkhead
and his Home is at 22 Gray’s Lane, Do.

In addition , James Westwood & A& R Westwood are listed as Brass founders :
1878 -9 James Westwood  6 Williamson St 
westwood A & R & Co ( Alexander & Robert Westwood ) At 65 Lanark St
1893 -4 , 144 Whyte ST, James, Jack, Andrew, Allan, & James Westwood, as well as Mrs. Westwood is the home address.

Samuel Auld 

Auld Samuel & Co.  since 1875 first in partnership with John Westwood and from May 1877 on their own , General Brass Founders , Gas – Fitters , Bellhangers, and makers of the celebrated Police Calls, Military guards and pointmen’s whistles 248 Gallowgate.

An excerpt from 1878 Directory ( Prepared 1877 ) shows Auld is already well known  for his Police & Railway Calls ( Note it is still not mentioned as whistles )
Most of the whistles made by him are Round Pea & Round Pea Pig Nose Whistles.
The Snail Type Whistles (Escargots) were to come years later at the late 1880s and 1990s.
“Glasgow Police Call” stamp on early Auld or Auld & Westwood .

Here I collected few stamps which appear on Round Pea Whistles by Auld or by Westwood.  The reason for some as “Maker”  and some with a Company name or a Retailer’s name is a matter for another short article.
This is in no way a complete chart there are few I had seen and are not here and few which are yet to be found. 
Auld and Westwood  Retailers , some stamped as “Makers”  S Auld Maker Glasgow stamps on Round Pea J. McFarlane / J. Christie / McBride / Wm. Beech/
Plunkett / McN&W/ J. Reid Glasgow / Wm. McBride / Marshal / Burley  are some of the names showing on Stamps.
Here is an older Post from 2009 about Auld Round Pea whistles.

McN & W stamp McNaughton & Weston Glasgow c. late 1880s.  By Auld or Westwood.  57 mm Round Pea Whistle. McNaughton is a name that will later appear on an Escargot whistle.


The next one, stamped J. Christie Maker Glasgow may be a Westwood work  (Albeit could be Yates) it certainly has a top which is DIFFERENT than
typical Aulds.


Note:
J Reid small long neck pignose that may had been Made by Westwood (To be uploaded) and so are an original White star Line and Glasgow Police Call

1892  Adv. above show Auld at – 240 and 248 Gallowgate  –  Now it is Whistle manufacturers and contractors !

Note : Auld moves in 1895 from 248 Gallowgate to 396 Gallowgate then
1899 – 7 and 9 Wood Lane (went bankrupt there) .
Then South Portland St and Cowcaddence before selling up to Hudson
in 1907.

* Article is under construction.
I would like to thank Mr P. Owen for his kind help in doing this research.

As was expected the Discovery of Westwood as whistle maker and of the partner ship with Auld that lead to the ground breaking discovery that Auld did start making whistles before 1880 and not as previously known and mentioned in the
literature, would be copied without credit to other websites.

Whistle museum , Article by A.Strauss, All rights reserved. 2017

2 thoughts on “John Westwood The first Glasgow Whistle Maker & Samuel Auld Whistles Breaking News ! A. Strauss”

  1. How can you tell an original white star line whistle. As my dad bought one at a car boot with s.auld maker Glasgow mark on the mouthpiece and olympic class above the blow hole.
    Can the makers name be used on a reproduction?

  2. I have an S. Auld, Glasgow whistle with RMS Titanic stamped on the underside. Likely to be a copy item, do you know?

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