Henry Arthur Ward


Henry Arthur Ward was a Birmingham whistle maker who made whistles of high quality, all rare and hard to find. He made whistles from 1876 to 1903.

History and addresses

65 Weasman Street1889-1897
27 Loveday street1898 - 1902
99 Snow hill1903 - 1908

H. A. Ward is one of the whistle makers that little is known about, and most of it is revealed by his designs and stamps, which testify to an innovative maker of high-quality whistles. All his whistles are rare and some were discovered only in the last year or two.
During 1889–1890 he had some partnership with a Birmingham whistle maker named Peter McDonald and they applied for a patent # 2980 on February 1890, the patent was never granted, it was for a Glasgow-style escargot-type whistle constructed of 6 parts in a way similar to one that S Auld received a patent for in the same year.

Models and types

Of the British whistle makers, he was the only one that seemed to have made cast GSWs, though they may have been made at B Lily & Sons in Birmingham, since they were one of his main outlets for selling whistles in Birmingham and also made cast patterns in pewter and Britannia metal. It may be noted here that B Lily & sons were located at the same street as J Hudson & Co at the time and sold other makers but Hudson's. and supplied whistles ordered from Ward, De Courcy and T Yates among others.