Spotlight: 148 Henry Keat, Special Edition

Whistory

The earliest history of any Keat creating brass and copper instruments dates to before 1800 with Samuel Keat. The business of Keat and Sons was established 1825 and eventually handed down through the family, and so comes to Henry as the chief director in 1856 and full owner by 1860.

Of the many items they made is one whistle, perhaps monotypical (or a singularly known whistle), called a duplex whistle, perhaps because of the incorporation of a stop hole.

Keat Label Technique on Whistle, Unique

The adaptation of a label by using a date lozenge symbol along with the company name, is unique on a whistle. This apparently dates the whistle to 1873 by the letter mark F, and this would date Henry Keat passing away within just 3 years.

By the 1870s cycling clubs were being established in the UK. Perhaps, this whistle followed the concept of their “cycling buglets“, and may have been fashioned for cycling events.

The manufacturing appears to be in four cast parts, and then all of the parts assembled. Even though smaller, it resembles the Porteous fife. The fife used several holes as a musical instrument, however, that whistle was designed for the military use. This whistle designed by Keat has a singular stop hole.

Monotypical Keat Whistle Deserves a Special Edition Spotlight

Although Keat products have a long and illustrious history, this whistle appears to be only one stop along the way. Yet, deservedly the whistle merits a SPOTLIGHT as a unique design.

Keat surely made a name making hunting horns, bugles, and musical instruments, but fully had the ability to make this whistle. Historically they produced and supplied brass instruments to the East India Company and additionally, for the Crimean War.

No patent to date, has yet to have been found for this whistle.

(*** Special thanks to Marc Leach for sharing this whistle from his private collection, and further, for providing photos.)

Henry Keat

Category	Round
Order	Henry Keat
Type	Cycling (?) GSW
Class	brass
Sub class	cast parts

Whistle Archeology

Henry Keat (1815 to 1876 )

Keat address history.

1780 — Red Lion Square
1830 3 Fisher St Red Lion Square
1840 – 190-1/2 High Holburn, Black Horse Yard, London
1866 – 103-105 Matthias Road, Newington Green, London
( 1869 – listed at Kepple Row , Stokr Newington Green ( same address
1942 – 59 Curnock St.
1950 business ends

The output from Matthias Road was 50,000 Army Bugles, 15,000 Cavalry Trumpets, 25,000 Horns for coaching and other road purposes, 6,000 Buglets, 25,000 Bicycle Bugles for the fashionable new sport of cycling, over 70,000 Horns for hunting and similar use, and many thousands of smaller horns for every imaginable requirement.

Henry Keat
Photo courtesy of Tackagain collection.
All brown/wood background photos, courtesy of tackagain collection.