Dr John McClure: The Development of the Red Cross Movement

Wednesday, 27th April 2016: Dr John McClure: The Development of the Red Cross Movement

As National Chairman of the British Red Cross Society from 2001 – 2007 Dr McClure was uniquely placed to address the club on the origins and development of the Red Cross Movement. In terms of those who have made lasting contributions to the wellbeing of mankind throughout the world it is somewhat sad that the name of Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross and first recipient of the Nobel Prize for peace, is not well known. Today 187 countries – more than in the United Nations – are supporters of the Red Cross Geneva Conventions which set out the humanitarian principles by which casualties of conflicts and prisioners of war are to be treated. In tracing the development of the Red Cross from its foundation in Switzerland 1863, Dr McClure described how Henry Dunant had gone from hero to zero. Having set up the Red Cross he became a hero but, like volunteers in the organisation today he was an unpaid and when his business enterprise failed he was left with nothing. For a time he lived rough on the streets of Paris before he was rehabiltated by the organisation he had helped to set up. Whilst the ideals of the Red Cross are globally accepted, its emblem of a red cross on a white background is a sensitive issue in some middle eastern countries where it has been replaced by a red crescent on a white background. Dr McClure was thanked for an enlightening, engaging and informative talk by Probus member, Jim McBain.