A De Courcy & Co
Encyclopedia
Alfred de Courcy' was a Birmingham
whistle maker from 1888 to 1927, who founded the company A de Courcy & Co.
He was the largest whistle maker beside J.Hudson & Co. from 1906 until 1927, when Hudson bought out
the whistle-making part of the company.
Address ; 28 Mary Steet (1888).
Police Whistle works, 20 Frankfort Street (1904).
Orphanage Road ( 1924).
de Courcy made whistles for 45 years. He started working at J Hudson & Co
at 1883 and became a foreman.
He left to form his own whistle-making brass foundry at 1888. It is not known how he raised the money for this, as despite several sources suggesting he had an aristocratic background, he came from a semi skilled working class family living in Hockley. He was the first of seven children of William John de Courcy and Susannah( nee Ridding), the family being decended from Irish immigrants from the Cork area who came to Limehouse in London in the 1830s.
Being a skilled metal worker, de Courcy was very creative in making new designs and registering new patents for whistle construction.
He was in fact the only whistle maker beside Hudson to successfully cross the heights of Victorian era into World war I and onward.
His personal connections with retailers, distributors all over the globe, are well reflected in body stamps
found on his whistles.
The British whistle scholar Martin Gilchrist, who wrote the three important books about whistles, was still able to meet the family descendants but unfortunately few documents remain. None of Alfred's grandchildren by his son Joseph, have any clear memories of their grandfather or his business. As they say ' in those days, as children, you never asked' Some personal photographs remain from the estate of daughter Madge, but shed no light on her father's business.
Alfred is buried alongside his wife Mary Ellen (nee Condren) in the churchyard of The Abbey, Erdington.
W Dowler & Sons
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
whistle maker from 1888 to 1927, who founded the company A de Courcy & Co.
He was the largest whistle maker beside J.Hudson & Co. from 1906 until 1927, when Hudson bought out
the whistle-making part of the company.
Address ; 28 Mary Steet (1888).
Police Whistle works, 20 Frankfort Street (1904).
Orphanage Road ( 1924).
Whistle maker
Whilst whistles were stamped A De Courcy, the family never capitalise the 'de' and as such Alfred is Alfred Edward de Courcy.de Courcy made whistles for 45 years. He started working at J Hudson & Co
J Hudson & Co
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 is still active today as Acme Whistles. Acme is the world’s largest and most famous producer of whistles...
at 1883 and became a foreman.
He left to form his own whistle-making brass foundry at 1888. It is not known how he raised the money for this, as despite several sources suggesting he had an aristocratic background, he came from a semi skilled working class family living in Hockley. He was the first of seven children of William John de Courcy and Susannah( nee Ridding), the family being decended from Irish immigrants from the Cork area who came to Limehouse in London in the 1830s.
Being a skilled metal worker, de Courcy was very creative in making new designs and registering new patents for whistle construction.
He was in fact the only whistle maker beside Hudson to successfully cross the heights of Victorian era into World war I and onward.
His personal connections with retailers, distributors all over the globe, are well reflected in body stamps
found on his whistles.
The British whistle scholar Martin Gilchrist, who wrote the three important books about whistles, was still able to meet the family descendants but unfortunately few documents remain. None of Alfred's grandchildren by his son Joseph, have any clear memories of their grandfather or his business. As they say ' in those days, as children, you never asked' Some personal photographs remain from the estate of daughter Madge, but shed no light on her father's business.
Alfred is buried alongside his wife Mary Ellen (nee Condren) in the churchyard of The Abbey, Erdington.