Selection of brassards for Red Cross and Mobile VAD

One pair of brassards labelled British Red Cross and additions of 'First Aid' and 'Nursing' and one mobile VAD armband

VADs or Voluntary Aid Detachment were set up in 1909 to provide support to the Territorial Medical Services. During the First World War, 90,000 volunteers signed up. The Voluntary Aid Detachment or VAD worked in hospitals, trained in first aid and basic nursing duties or as transport. Additional training for using massage or x-ray technologies were also available. Professional nurses worked alongside VADs. The British Red Cross and the Order of St John formed the Joint War Committee to combine resources, funding, fundraising, and the organization of VADs. VAD units were set up in each English county. Mobile VADs worked wherever they were needed.

During both World Wars, VADs wore the red cross, a symbol of protection.

The red cross symbol was first adopted under the Geneva Convention of 1864. It reverses the colour of the Swiss national flag of a white cross on a red background. Those wearing the red cross, crescent or crystal are protected under international law and symbolises they are there to give help. The Geneva Convention forms the basis of how soldiers and civilians should be treated during wartime.

In 1870, the British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War was formed, following the out break or war between France and Prussia. In 1905, it was renamed as the British Red Cross.