First World War first field dressing
- Made:
- 1914
First field dressing, produced for the British armed forces during the First World War by Cuxson, Gerrard and Co. Ltd of Oldbury, Birmingham, England in December 1914.
First field dressings were introduced into the British armed forces during the 1880s and by the time of the Boer War at the very end of the century, they were standard issue. The first field dressing had a light canvas outer package that generally contained two sterile absorbent gauze dressings with safety pins for attachment, although additional contents were tried over time.
They were intended to be a first line of treatment for wounded soldiers, before they had reached a first aid post or other medical facility. Every British soldier on the front lines during the First World War would have carried at least one and, once wounded either he or a comrade could apply the dressing. Most of the fighting nations involved in the conflict carried similar packs and frontline soldiers still carry a modern equivalent today.
This example was manufactured by Cuxson, Gerrard and Co. Ltd, a company founded in 1878 who were making a variety of medical products at the outbreak of the First World War. During the war production became focussed on a range of dressings, as well as a specialist ointment to counter the effects of mustard gas on the skin. Over a century later, the company remains based in Oldbury and they are still involved in the research, development and manufacture of products for the health sector.
Details
- Category:
- Emergency Medicine
- Collection:
- Sir Henry Wellcome's Museum Collection
- Object Number:
- A645196
- type:
- dressings