Saving lives across the world
Always ready to help. MARION McMULLEN looks at 150 years of the British Red Cross
‘IT’S KINDNESS that helps people cope in a crisis,” former British Red Cross chief executive Sir Nicholas Young once pointed out. The humanitarian organisation launched 150 years ago this month and has been on hand through wars and disasters offering much-needed emergency relief efforts and medical support.
The familiar red cross on a white background has become a welcoming sign that help is at hand and the organisation today has more than 20,000 volunteers carrying out essential work.
The network was inspired by Swiss businessman Henry Dunant – known as the father of the Red Cross – in 1863 after he witnessed the suffering of thousands of soldiers at the Battle of Solferino four years earlier.
He later wrote: “More than 300,000 men stood facing each other; the battle line was five leagues long, and the fighting continued for more than 15 hours.”
Many of the wounded died simply because of lack of any available care, and the harrowing scenes led Henry to come up with the idea of teams of trained volunteers who would be ready to provide neutral and impartial help to relieve suffering during war.
An international agreement to recognise the work of the Red Cross on the battlefield also later led to the original Geneva Convention.
Soldier and philanthropist Colonel Loyd-Lindsay, who later became Baron Wantage, called for a society to be set up in Britain in 1870 as war broke out between France and Prussia.
He pledged £1,000 towards its formation and it set the ball rolling. The British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War was created offering aid under the protection of the red cross symbol. It was later renamed the British Red Cross and granted a royal charter by
King Edward VII in 1908 with Queen Alexandra becoming president.
The society has been on hand ever since, during times of conflict and need. Major Richardson took his bloodhounds in 1914 to assist the British Red Cross in locating wounded soldiers on the battlefields during the First World War. He was among 90,000 volunteers deployed by the organisation carrying out lifesaving work at home and abroad during the war years.
Members of the British Red Cross were also on hand as the bombs fell during the Blitz in the Second World War. Volunteers drove ambulances and rescued people from the wreckage of bombed buildings and first aid posts were set up at London Underground stations. Essential supplies including food, blankets and clothing were distributed in town halls, hospitals and emergency rest centres to those who had been left with nothing. Red Cross ambulances helped the wounded following the
Normandy landings and carried 1,013,076 casualties and patients over a distance covering 9,142,621 miles.
They also helped people desperately seeking information about relatives serving in the armed forces who had been reported missing or wounded. Food parcels and even activity packs, containing sports equipment, were sent to British prisoners of war.
More than 100,000 food parcels were sent to the German-occupied Channel Islands and Red Cross doctors and medical staff were on hand to help survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
British wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill was his wife Clementine’s first customer when she held a Red Cross flag day outside Number 10 Downing Street in 1941, while American troops in London were treated to a taste of home the same year as doughnuts were served up to those stationed in the Britain.
After the war, French fashion designer Christian Dior travelled from Paris to England to attend his 1954 fashion parade at Blenheim Palace in aid of the British Red Cross and Dior designer Yves Saint Laurent also showcased his collection at the same venue in 1958 to raise money for them.
The work has continued over the years. Red Cross cadets packed emergency bags containing soap, flannels and toys which were sent to Yugoslavia for child victims of the 1963 earthquake, while conductor Andre Previn was on hand in 1975 to launch the British Red Cross appeal to help an estimated two million refugees in Vietnam and Cambodia and Princess Diana visited the Red Cross headquarters in Kathmandu in Nepal in 1993 to see their work first hand.
Volunteers are now working in communities across the country to support those made most vulnerable by the coronavirus outbreak.
They have been involved in everything from food distributions to ambulance support and welfare checks and a free phone support line on 0808 196 3651 has been set up to help people facing a range of issues due to the pandemic and lockdown.
Norman McKinley, British Red Cross executive director of UK operations said: “Having someone on the end of the phone when you feel most alone can be a lifeline in times like this.”