Books and Ephemera

Inside centre pages of the 1918 Greetings Card.     The story of the Order of St John  (parent body of St John Ambulance)  begins in Jerusalem at the end of the first Crusade  (1099)

Postcard of the ‘St John’ Auxiliary Hospital produced and sold to raise funds for the St John Ambulance Brigade Hospital at Etaples, France

The WW1 silk embroidered card depicts flags, flowers and a British Red Cross & Order of St John badge.    Compared with the actual badge displayed on the card one can see that the embroidered version is fairly accurate.     The badge at the top right of picture is another version of the same one.

Rumours of War and how keen people were to have a knowledge of First Aid is seen by the printing of over 2 million ‘St John’ First Aid Textbooks between Dec. 1937 and March 1940.      By 1946 those little ‘black books were being translated into 35 languages and dialects and were once recorded as a world wide best seller

WW2 ‘St John’ and British Red Cross Bookmarks

WW2 Indian Red Cross & St John Ambulance fundraiser  –  Cinderella Stamp Booklet and stamp (on left)

Also WW2 fundraising Cinderella stamp for the British Red Cross & Order of St John ‘Palestine and Transjordan’ appeal