Collections

The Museum of the Order of St John has a collection of more than 60,000 objects, ranging from historic arms and armour through to modern first aid equipment. Browse the selection below to learn a little more about our collections.

Poster shows a young boy who has fallen off his bicycle outside a school. The boy is being helped by two men, one in army uniform. At the top it reads 'Do Your Civic Duty'. Underneath the image it reads ' Learn First Aid' and 'St John Ambulance Association (India), Headquarters, New Delhi.'
Posters

‘Do Your Civic Duty’ Poster

Unknown
Print
1950s
LDOSJ SJA3589

Circulated in India during the 1950s, this poster highlights the aim of the St John Ambulance Association’s mission to promote first aid. The Association was first established in Calcutta, India in 1901 as a result of the Ambulance Crusade, an endeavour to encourage the establishment of Association Centres throughout India, pioneered by Major A C Yate. As hoped, Centres quickly spread to cities across the Indian subcontinent and instructed the police in first aid. A Centre established in Baroda had the support of Maharaja Saheb who encouraged his subjects to learn first aid. The St John Ambulance Association was founded on a national level in 1912, an international extension of the original St John Ambulance Association founded in England in 1877. The first Nursing Division, the Parsi Nursing Division, was formed in Bombay, India in January 1913.

The desire of the Association to make First Aid accessible to people across the Indian subcontinent is evident. Early on, First Aid to the Injured, the Association’s textbook, was translated into a variety of languages such as Hindi, Gujurati and Tamil. Cosgrave’s Nursing Textbook was also translated into Guajarati. Over time, these texts were translated into other languages such as Urdu, Sinhalese and Bengali. At the Museum we hold copies of various St John publications in eight different languages from the region, many of which were printed in the 1950s, at the time this poster was promoting the skill of first aid.

Since independence in 1947, the president of India has been chairman of the organisation. As the poster demonstrates, the Indian branch of St John Ambulance Association is based in New Delhi. Structurally, the organisation has two wings, The Association Wing which gives first aid training and the Brigade wing which operates ambulances and provides first aid at events. The core message of this 1950s poster, to learn first aid, remains central to the organisation.

Sources:

Corbet Fletcher, N., The St John Ambulance Association Annals of the Ambulance Department, The St John Ambulance Association, 2nd Ed. (London, 1949).

St John in Focus: A history of the St John Ambulance in photographs from the Museum of the Order of St John, The Museum of the Order of St John (London, 1987).

Sponsors

The Museum of the Order of St John would like to thank all those who have supported and continue to support its work. In particular, the Museum would like to thank the following for their generosity: