Yes Frenchie, they were Whitworth. I used to repair motorcycles and BSA's and Triumphs used Whitwoth size wrenches. The differance is an SAE or metric wrench is sized by the measurement of the nut or bolt head, across two opposite flats. The Whitworth was sized by the measurement of the lenght of a single flat. How anybody came up with that is beyond me. A full set of metric and SAE wrenches would usually get you through, but I also had an old BSA toolkit a buddy gave me in case I couldn't find something to fit.
If you work on British bikes or cars, you find they do some interesting stuff. Like, "Hey, lets make this rediculously complex just because we're bloody British!"