On 4th August 1870 the British Red Cross was formed.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement started in 1863 and was inspired by Swiss businessman Henry Dunant. This was in the aftermath of the appalling suffering  on both sides of the Battle of Solferino in 1859. The founding charter of the Red Cross was drawn up in 1863, and in 1864 the Geneva Convention was drawn up.

A public meeting was held in London on 4th August 1870 after Colonel Loyd-Lindsay (later Lord Wantage of Lockinge) wrote to the Times with his suggestion to form a British organisation.

The British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War was formed.  Both sides in a war would be given medical aid and care. In 1905, the British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War was renamed as the British Red Cross. It was granted its first Royal Charter in 1908 by HM King Edward VII. Queen Alexandra became its president. – The beginning of the Red Cross.

The British Red Cross is today part of an international movement of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent. Its foundations are International Humanitarian Law.