Manual "First Aid to the Injured" by James Cantlie for the St John Ambulance Association

Manual "First Aid to the Injured" by James Cantlie for the St John Ambulance Association, 1912

The St John Ambulance Association was founded in 1877 with the aim of providing first aid and ambulance services to members of the public. Ten years later, the St John Ambulance Brigade started assisting in public events, their first being Queen Victoria's golden jubilee.

Four years before this manual was written, the Association volunteered at the 1908 London Olympics, starting a long relationship of providing first aid at sporting events.

This book would have been a crucial guide to medics in the early 20th century and would likely have benefitted volunteers only a couple of years later when the First World War broke out and St John Ambulance started providing aid for war casualties.