Major John Charles Burgess 46th of Foot. Co-Founder of the British Red Cross

Major John Charles Burgess 46^th of Foot. Co-Founder of the British Red Cross

Major Charles Burgess was invited to join the military Knights of Windsor in 1902 as recognition of his contribution to the British Red Cross.

Major Burgess was instrumental in the early days of the British Red Cross, but he received little recognition for his work until much later in his life. He was born on 10^th June 1836, serving with the 46^th South Devonshire Regiment of Foot, including during the Crimean War. In 1870, a few years after his retirement, he was appointed Adjutant of the Honourable Artillery Company with the rank of Major. And it was through this appointment that he became a founding member and Secretary of the National Society for Aid to Sick and Wounded in War.

The Formation of the British Red Cross

In 1862 after the conclusion of the Austro-Italian war, a booklet was published to draw the public’s attention to the horror of war and in particular the battlefield of Solferino on which thousands of wounded men had been left to perish due to the lack of medical assistance. The author M Henri Dunant urged the necessity of constituting permanent societies for the aid of the wounded and of forming detachments of volunteer helpers.

Dunant’s booklet immediately struck a chord with M. Gustave Moynieu, President of Le Societe Genevoise d’Utilite Publique who invited Dunant to address a meeting of the Society of Geneva. The members were greatly impressed by him and formed a commission with instructions to study means of improving the position of the wounded in war. This was later to become Le Comite International de la Croix Rouge.

A conference assembled in Geneva on 26^th October 1863, at which delegates from 36 European nations drafted a memorandum for the treatment of the wounded. After which the process to enshrine it into International Law began on 8^th August 1864 attended by representatives from 26 governments. The memorandum was refined and approved and eventually issued as the 1864 Geneva Convention. In effect, this convention gave international legal protection in time of war to the wounded, to medical personnel and to hospitals. The symbol of protection was to be the white flag bearing a red cross.

Individual countries were encouraged to form their own national branches closely allied to the central international body. Great Britain formed the National Society for Aid to Sick and Wounded in War on 4^th August 1870. Soon to be known simply as The British Red Cross.