Red Cross cloth bags

Two small white cloth bags, with red cross badge in centre and labelled 'RED CROSS AND ST JOHN WAR ORGANISATION LONDON', 1939-1945

The label on this bag reads "The Red Cross and St John War Organisation, London." During and after both World Wars these two volunteer institutions in Britain came together to form the Joint War Organisation. This centralised efforts of providing volunteers, medical care, and receiving donations. All St John personnel received the protection of the symbol of the red cross.

In 1863, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Swiss businessman Henry Dunant proposed creating voluntary national relief societies to provide neutral and impartial help in times of war. The founding charter met was drawn up the same year. In 1864, the Geneva Convention was adopted, which is an international agreement to recognise the status of medical services and wounded on the battlefield. The convention also adopted the red cross emblem, an inversion of the Swiss flag. The red crescent emblem was adopted in 1876 and the red crystal in 2005 to signify that someone or something is officially connected with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.