150 years ago, on 4 August 1870, the British Red Cross was formed and began its mission to connect human kindness with human crisis, both in the UK and overseas. The organisation joined the global Red Cross movement to work towards the shared goal of helping people in need, no matter who or where they are. This exhibition features works of art from the British Red Cross Museum and other collections around the UK, showing the work of the British Red Cross and the people who have helped spread the power of kindness.
Introduction
The British Red Cross has been helping people in crisis for 150 years. The organisation played a vital role during the First and Second World Wars, providing relief to sick and wounded members of the armed forces, prisoners of war and civilians. From 1919, the role of the charity expanded to provide health and social care in peacetime, as well as to respond to natural disasters and teach lifesaving first aid skills. From its early days, the British Red Cross held a firm belief in the importance of supporting refugees, migrants and those seeking asylum, and remains committed to this cause today.
Haydn Reynolds Mackey (1881–1979) and Gilbert Rogers (1881–1956)
Oil on canvas
H 203.2 x W 365.7 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Henry Dunant (1828–1910)
The Red Cross movement began with one man’s inspiration for a kinder world. Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman, witnessed the suffering of wounded soldiers in the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino in Northern Italy in 1859. Dunant was shocked by the sight of thousands of injured and dying soldiers on both sides left without medical care. His immediate response was to bring local people together to provide some relief to the wounded soldiers, to feed them and comfort them.
On return to Geneva, Dunant wrote a book entitled 'A Memory of Solferino' in which he described the horrors of war he had witnessed. He proposed that all countries should form neutral voluntary relief societies to care for the wounded in wartime.
unknown artist
Painted plaster
H 44 x W 30.4 x D 24.4 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
The Geneva Convention
In 1863, a committee was formed in response to Henry Dunant’s ideas, initially organising the Geneva International Conference, which eventually led to the adoption of the Geneva Convention – an international agreement recognising the neutral status of medical services and the wounded. Great Britain became a party to the treaty on 18 February 1865.
The Geneva Conventions form the basis of international humanitarian law for the humane treatment of wounded or captured military personnel, medical personnel and non-military civilians during wars or armed conflicts.
The Red Cross emblem is a protective sign used during armed conflict, and its use is restricted by law.
Henry Mee (b.1955)
Oil on canvas
H 117 x W 171 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Robert Loyd-Lindsay (1832–1901), 1st Baron Wantage
On 15 July 1870, the Franco-Prussian War was declared. Colonel Robert Loyd-Lindsey, a war veteran who had experienced the horrors of war, wrote a letter calling for the formation of a voluntary aid society in Britain to join the global Red Cross movement, and this letter was published in The Times newspaper on 22 July 1870. Many influential people responded positively to support the establishment of a national society.
At a public meeting held in London on 4 August 1870, a resolution was passed to create a national society in Britain to provide relief to sick and wounded soldiers in wartime. This was the start of the British Red Cross, initially named the National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War.
Margaret 'Mollie' Dorothy Dunne (1920–2011)
Plaster
H 28 x W 17.5 x D 11.9 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Sir John Furley (1836-1919)
Sir John Furley was one of the first in Britain to recognise the value of the Red Cross movement. He helped convince Robert Loyd-Lindsay to write the letter to The Times newspaper that led to the birth of the National Society for Aid to the Sick & Wounded in War, later renamed British Red Cross. He was a founding committee member of both the National Society and St John Ambulance Association.
Furley made a significant contribution to the development of first aid and technology to improve conditions for the wounded, including stretchers and a hospital train.
Hugh de Twenebrokes Glazebrook (1855–1937)
Oil on canvas
H 115 x W 90 cm
Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery
Harriet Loyd-Lindsey, Lady Wantage (1837-1920)
Despite the challenges women faced in the 19th century, women played a significant role in the foundation of the British Red Cross. A Ladies Committee was set up in 1870 with 48 members.
Harriett Sarah Loyd-Lindsey was the wife of Robert Loyd-Lindsey. She was a founding member of the Ladies Committee of the National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War.
In 1883, she was awarded the Order of the Red Cross for her humanitarian work.
Richard Austin (b.1959)
Cold cast bronze
H 131 x W 55 x D 92 cm
West Northamptonshire Council
Florence Nightingale (1820–1910)
Florence Nightingale is most famous for her role in the foundation of modern nursing and her pioneering work in the graphical presentation of statistics, Her work caring for soldiers during the Crimean War was a direct inspiration to Henry Dunant.
Nightingale was a founding member of the Ladies Committee and participated in the work of the society until her death.
John Steell (1804–1891) and Alessandro Parlanti (1862–c.1921)
Bronze
H 71 x W 47 x D 29 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London
Jane Nassau Senior (1828-1877)
Jane Nassau Senior was Britain’s first female civil servant and a founding member of the Ladies’ Committee of the National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded. During the Crimean War, Senior helped to send medical and relief supplies for wounded soldiers.
Senior was awarded one of the first British Red Cross medals in 1871 in recognition of her work.
George Frederic Watts (1817–1904)
Oil on canvas
H 176.5 x W 103 cm
National Trust, Wightwick Manor
Queen Alexandra (1844-1925)
Queen Alexandra had a long involvement with the British Red Cross. In February 1885, as Princess of Wales, she formed her own branch of the Society to help raise money for medical aid to the sick and wounded soldiers. In 1905, she became President and her husband, King Edward VII, became Patron of the British Red Cross. In 1908, Queen Alexandra signed the petition to grant the Royal Charter to the British Red Cross.
Luke Fildes (1843–1927) (after)
Oil on canvas
H 188.5 x W 120.5 cm
Government Art Collection
The First World War
Following the outbreak of the First World War, the British Red Cross formed the Joint War Committee with the Order of St John. The Committee worked together to fundraise, provide resources and services to people affected by the war, and organised Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) in Britain and overseas.
With the majority of men conscripted to fight on the front, it was left mainly to the women to take the lead on providing vital aid to the sick and wounded soldiers and sailors at home and abroad. Out of more than 90,000 British Red Cross VADs, around 66,000 were women. Some refused to take a salary, and many worked at a low rate of pay. These VADs played a significant role in changing and saving lives in the wake of global conflict.
Haydn Reynolds Mackey (1881–1979)
Oil on panel
H 33 x W 39.3 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Women Ambulance Drivers
The British Red Cross established the Motor Ambulance Department, and around 2,000 motor ambulances were sent overseas to various destinations throughout the war. As more men enlisted in the armed forces, many women volunteered as ambulance drivers. Although driving motor vehicles was previously considered inappropriate for women, the war changed perceptions as women successfully carried out ‘men’s jobs.’
Gilbert Rogers (1881–1956)
Oil on canvas
H 142.2 x W 113 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
The Red Cross Armband
Painting showing a medical officer treating a wounded soldier on the battlefield during the First World War. The use of the red cross emblem on an armband ensures that relief workers can be easily identified and protected in conflict situations.
Septimus Edwin Scott (1879–1962)
Oil on canvas
H 72.5 x W 47 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Second Battle of Ypres
The Second Battle of Ypres took place from 22 April to 25 May 1915.
Gilbert Rogers (1881–1956)
Oil on canvas
H 335.2 x W 457.2 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Guy Lipscombe (1881–1952)
Oil on canvas
H 152.4 x W 191.1 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Belgian Refugees
Miss Hedvica M. Shlehover enrolled as a member of the British Red Cross in September 1914 and undertook various duties including working with Belgian refugees in the UK. During the war, around 250,000 Belgian refugees arrived in the UK and the British Red Cross provided vital support.
For over a century, the British Red Cross has helped protect millions of refugees in the UK and overseas who have been forced to leave their homes fearing persecution. The first refugee service was organised in 1897 when a conflict between Turkey and Greece resulted in large numbers of refugees from Thessaly and Crete.
Hans Knoechl (1850–1927)
Oil on canvas
H 50 x W 39.5 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Mabel St Claire Stobart (1864-1937)
At the outbreak of the First World War, Mabel St Claire Stobart formed the Women’s National League Service and set up hospitals in Belgium and France after receiving invitations from the Belgian and French Red Cross societies.
Mabel’s team travelled to Serbia in 1915 and was asked by the Royal Serbian Army to organise the First Serbian-English Field Hospital. With the invasion of Serbia, Mabel and her team was part of a countrywide retreat that lasted 10 weeks. The painting shows Mabel riding a black horse, wearing a Red Cross armband, leading her hospital unit with the sick and wounded on an 800-mile escape over snow-capped mountains. They reached the safety of Scutari on 23 December 1915.
George James Rankin (1864–1937)
Oil on canvas
H 122 x W 82 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
The Star and Garter Home
In 1916, Queen Mary expressed concern for the long-term care of servicemen injured in the First World War. She donated the Star and Garter Hotel to the British Red Cross and asked for it to be converted into a “permanent haven” for ex-servicemen with disabilities.
The Star and Garter Home initially admitted only the sick and wounded soldiers of the First World War, but over the years many thousands of ex-servicemen and women with disabilities or injuries benefited from the special care provided by the Home. Respite care was offered from 1971 and ex-servicewomen became eligible in 1986.
John Hodgson Lobley (1878–1948)
Oil on canvas
H 50.8 x W 60.9 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Haydn Reynolds Mackey (1881–1979)
Oil on canvas
H 152.4 x W 101.9 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Miss Moore, VAD nurse
Portrait of Miss Moore painted by her sister Dorothy Winifred Moore. The two Moore sisters served as British Red Cross VADs during the First World War.
Dorothy W. Moore (1897–1973)
Oil on canvas
H 61 x W 49.5 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Medical Stores
Haydn Reynolds Mackey (1881–1979)
Oil on canvas
H 60.9 x W 50.8 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Haydn Reynolds Mackey (1881–1979)
Oil on canvas
H 152.4 x W 101.9 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Haydn Reynolds Mackey (1881–1979)
Oil on canvas
H 50.8 x W 60.9 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
John Hodgson Lobley (1878–1948)
Oil on canvas
H 50.8 x W 60.9 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Haydn Reynolds Mackey (1881–1979)
Oil on canvas
H 203.2 x W 274.3 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Haydn Reynolds Mackey (1881–1979)
Oil on canvas
H 101.9 x W 152.4 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
John Hodgson Lobley (1878–1948)
Oil on canvas
H 101.9 x W 152.4 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Auxiliary hospitals
One of the many important services that the British Red Cross provided during the First World War were auxiliary hospitals and convalescent homes for wounded servicemen. The Red Cross began looking for suitable properties that could be used as hospitals prior to the outbreak of the war, and many people offered their homes.
As soon as wounded men began to arrive from overseas, the temporary hospitals were largely available for use, with equipment and staff in place. By the end of the war, the British Red Cross administered and staffed around 3,000 auxiliary hospitals and convalescent homes across the UK.
John Hodgson Lobley (1878–1948)
Oil on canvas
H 45.7 x W 60.9 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Shrubland Park Hospital
Painting of a British Red Cross VAD and a trained nurse treating a patient named Mr Waspe of Claydon in Shrubland Park Hall in Suffolk. Shrubland Park Hall was loaned by the Saumarez family for use as a hospital during the war.
Marion Saumarez (1885–1978)
Oil on board
H 50 x W 39 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Gilbert Rogers (1881–1956)
Oil on canvas
H 142.2 x W 111.7 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Gilbert Rogers (1881–1956)
Oil on canvas
H 152.4 x W 101.9 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Gilbert Rogers (1881–1956)
Oil on canvas
H 101.9 x W 152.4 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Gilbert Rogers (1881–1956)
Oil on canvas
H 152.4 x W 101.9 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Gilbert Rogers (1881–1956)
Oil on canvas
H 101.9 x W 152.4 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
John Hodgson Lobley (1878–1948)
Oil on canvas
H 205.7 x W 276.8 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
John Hodgson Lobley (1878–1948)
Oil on canvas
H 101.9 x W 152.4 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
The Order of St John
During the Second World War, the British Red Cross formed the Joint War Organisation with the Order of St John. Just as they had done during the First World War, the Organisation worked together to fundraise, provide resources and services to people affected by the war, and organised Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) in Britain and overseas.
John Hodgson Lobley (1878–1948)
Oil on canvas
H 50.8 x W 60.9 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Doris Zinkeisen
Doris Zinkeisen was a highly acclaimed society portraitist and a well-known costume and set designer. During the First World War and Second World Wars, Doris volunteered as a British Red Cross VAD nurse in hospitals. Combining her humanitarian work with her artistic skills, Doris produced paintings of her patients.
Shortly after the Second World War started in 1939, the British government set up the War Artists Advisory Committee. Of approximately 400 artists commissioned, only 52 were women. Doris was commissioned at the end of the war to record and reflect the work of the Joint War Organisation.
In those years before TV cameras and 24-hour news, people relied on photographs and paintings to illustrate what war was really like.
Doris Clare Zinkeisen (1898–1991)
Oil on canvas
H 107.2 x W 86.6 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London
Hospital Ward, Louvain
Painting of a hospital ward in Louvain in Belgium. Many British Red Cross VADs were sent to work in hospitals in Europe.
During the First World War, Doris volunteered as a VAD nurse in a hospital in Northwood, Middlesex caring for soldiers injured on the front. She volunteered as a VAD nurse again during the Second World War and nursed wounded survivors of air raids in St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London.
Doris Clare Zinkeisen (1898–1991)
Oil on canvas
H 65 x W 81 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Transporting the Wounded
Travelling around north-west Europe by lorry or air from a nearby RAF base, Doris Zinkeisen sketched images in different places and then transformed them into oil paintings in her studio. Her studio was in Brussels at the Joint War Commission’s headquarters, which had been the German headquarters during the occupation.
Doris Clare Zinkeisen (1898–1991)
Oil on canvas
H 60 x W 73 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Repatriation of Prisoners of War
The painting features a British Red Cross relief team issuing comforts to prisoners of war at an airstrip in Brussels before they were flown home to England.
Relief items provided by the British Red Cross to repatriated prisoners of war included comfort bags, each containing essentials such as toothpaste and toothbrush, shaving equipment, face cloth, soap, cigarettes and chocolate.
Doris Clare Zinkeisen (1898–1991)
Oil on canvas
H 76 x W 91 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Repatriation of Prisoners of War
Doris Clare Zinkeisen (1898–1991)
Oil on canvas
H 71.1 x W 91.4 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Volunteers Treating Patients at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp
Doris Zinkeisen was the first artist to enter the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp after it was liberated on 15 April 1945. She would have witnessed around 13,000 unburied bodies and 60,000 inmates, most of them sick and starving. Doris stayed at the camp until it was evacuated and burned down. In letters she wrote to her husband, she described the horrors that had taken place- “The shock of Belsen was never to be forgotten”.
Doris Clare Zinkeisen (1898–1991)
Oil on canvas
H 80.4 x W 100 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
The Burning of Bergen-Belsen
Six days after the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was liberated on 15 April 1945, teams from the British Red Cross arrived to provide vital aid to around 60,000 people who were sick and starving. The overcrowded and unsanitary conditions had enabled diseases such as typhus to spread, leaving many of the camp’s inmates in urgent need of medical care. The huts previously occupied by the prisoners were burned to the ground to prevent the spread of the typhus epidemic and louse infestation.
Doris Clare Zinkeisen (1898–1991)
Oil on canvas
H 65 x W 80 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp
More than 50,000 people died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany during the Second World War. Those imprisoned included Jewish people and other victims of Nazi persecution. The well-known diarist Anne Frank and her sister Margot were among those held captive here.
British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen on 15 April 1945. When the troops entered the camp, they found thousands of unburied bodies and approximately 60,000 people who were sick and starving.
Leslie Cole (1910–1976)
Oil on canvas
H 66 x W 90.1 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Changi Jail
On 15 February 1942, Singapore surrendered to the invading Japanese army. This led to the internment of around 2,800 civilians in Changi Jail in the east of Singapore, a prison initially built to house 600 prisoners. By the end of 1945, there were approximately 4,500 interned, now held in a former Royal Air Force barracks. The civilians interned were individuals who lived and worked in the Far East. They were mainly British, but individuals also included Australians, Canadians, Dutch, and Iraqis.
The conditions in the jail were extremely harsh- the internees endured overcrowding, malnutrition and diseases such as malaria. The Red Cross sent food parcels, but the internees received only a limited number.
Leslie Cole (1910–1976)
Oil on canvas
H 65.6 x W 86.5 cm
IWM (Imperial War Museums)
Far East Prisoner of War
Chris Roche and Ronald Searle (1920–2011)
Granite, metal & wood
Jan Štursa (1908–1925) (copy after)
Bronze
H 49 x W 10 x D 16.5 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Major General George Lindsay (1880-1956)
Major General George Lindsay was the Commissioner of the British Red Cross Commission for North-West Europe from November 1944.
Doris Clare Zinkeisen (1898–1991)
Oil on canvas
H 69 x W 57 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Red Cross Feeding Scheme
Painting depicting the feeding schemes carried out for refugees by the Red Cross in Germany in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Max Emanuel Huber (1903–1987)
Oil on canvas
H 149 x W 209 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Virgil Lancelot Broodhagen (b.1943)
Oil on canvas
H 42 x W 60 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Nigerian Coast
Painting of a Nigerian coastal scene presented to the British Red Cross team working with the Red Cross Society of Niger at the Niger Clinic at Port Harcourt.
The Red Cross Society of Niger was established in 1963.
unknown artist
Oil on board
H 64 x W 80 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Ethiopian Famine
A widespread famine affected Ethiopia from 1983 to 1985 resulting in the starvation of millions. A programme of aid was run by the International Federation of the Red Cross, then the League of Red Cross Societies, in partnership with the Ethiopian Red Cross. The British Red Cross launched the Ethiopia Appeal and raised more than £1.7 million.
This sculpture was inspired by the 1985 BBC documentary ‘African Calvary’. Filmed by the Kenyan photojournalist Mohamed Amin, this documentary covered the subject of drought in various African countries.
Lyn Constable Maxwell (b.1944)
Bronze
H 65 x W 34 x D 56 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Gulf War
The 1990-1991 Gulf War, the conflict between Iraq and an international coalition supporting Kuwait, resulted in nearly three million refugees. Around 1.85 million Iraqi Kurds fled to the Turkish and Iranian borders. The British Red Cross sent relief equipment and £1 million to assist the Iranian Red Cresent to provide support Kurdish refugees.
The artist produced a series of paintings in support of refugees. She posed the question- ‘Who owns the most space on our planet; and have we any territorial rights to deny sharing it with other people?’
Eve Goldsmith Coxeter (b.1928)
Oil on paper
H 101 x W 129 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Gulf War
Eve Goldsmith Coxeter (b.1928)
Oil on paper
H 101 x W 129 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Gulf War
Painting depicting captured servicemen knelt down with their hands on their heads. The artist based this painting on the Gulf War to show the suffering of prisoners of war.
The British Red Cross has a long history of providing relief to prisoners of war. The third Geneva Convention, first adopted in 1929, details the acceptable treatment of prisoners of war.
Eve Goldsmith Coxeter (b.1928)
Oil on paper
H 129 x W 102 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Mother and Child
John Taulbut (b.1934)
Stone
H 64 x W 24 x D 26 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
The Ottawa Convention
By the early 1990s, the field workers of the ICRC observed that the use of anti-personnel landmines had serious medical, humanitarian and social effects.
In 1994, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), called for a ban on anti-personnel landmines. The British Red Cross launched a non-political campaign to increase public awareness of the use of anti-personnel landmines.
The Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines, also called the Ottawa Convention, is a treaty which bans the use, stockpiling, production or transfer of anti-personnel mines. The treaty was opened for signature in 1997 and it was signed by 123 states, including the UK. There are currently 164 parties to the Ottawa Convention.
Lucy Mary Hainsworth (b.1935)
Plaster
H 55 x W 55 x D 7 cm
British Red Cross Museum and Archives
Princess Diana
In January 1997, Princess Diana visited Angola on behalf of the British Red Cross. She spoke to landmine survivors and walked through a cleared corridor in a minefield. The visit generated huge publicity for the campaign to ban landmines.
Bryan Organ (b.1935)
Acrylic on canvas
H 177.8 x W 127 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London