Iddy Umpty
“Iddy Umpty” card game based around learning to read the Morse Code Alphabet. by Thomas de la Rue & Co., Ltd, c.1905
Iddy Umpty card game is based around learning to read the Morse Code Alphabet. and was manufactured by Thomas de la Rue & Co., Ltd in around 1905. The packs of cards each contain a complete set of Morse Code cards (A-Z) plus a Joker. See the rules→
Although it sounds like a nonsense nursery rhyme, “Iddy Umpty” is a representation of the dots and dashes of the Morse code. Apparently troops were taught to recognise a dot or a dash by the sound of the signalling machine: a dot made an “iddy” sound and a dash sounded like “umpty”. An ‘Iddy Umpty’ in that way became slang for a signaller.
See the box→


Above: “Iddy Umpty” card game based around learning to read the Morse Code Alphabet, manufactured by Thomas de la Rue & Co., Ltd, c.1905.

By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)
Member since January 30, 2009
View ArticlesRex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games and his book is on the bookshelves of many.
His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.
Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service.
Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.
His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.