Joint Committee: Order of St John of Jerusalem & the British Red Cross Society
Chairmen and Vice Chairmen
{2 lists of 13 names each with dates position held}
Boards like this, listing the holders of high offices in the organisation, are on display in many office lobbies, school halls, club foyers, etc. This one has found its way into a cloister in a memorial garden but that does not mean it is itself a memorial, even under our very loose definition. If we accept that this one is a memorial then we'd have to accept all of them. Madness!
We have linked in the two names on this board that also appear on memorials in London. Maybe we'll come back and fully research all these names when we've finished all the true memorials in London.
The Joint Committee Of The Order Of St John Of Jerusalem And British Red Cross Society probably started life in WW1 as the Joint War Organisation. From: "The Joint War Organisation (JWO) was a combined operation of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John of Jerusalem during the World Wars. It was first created in 1914 and ceased operations when World War I ended in 1919; the organisation was re-formed upon the British entry into World War II in 1939 and was active until its permanent disbanding in 1947. The Joint War Committee (JWC), a non-government administrative body, controlled the JWO and the Joint War Finance Committee managed its finances and concentrated on raising donations and funding."
Following WW2 it morphed into a charity. The has: "Activities - how the charity spends its money: Primarily the provision of grants for the benefit of needy war disabled ex-service personnel and their dependants and of members of the nursing services who served the wounded in war and of similar activities."
Of the list 26 "Chairmen" and "Vice Chairmen" 5 are women, the most recent having finished her stint in 2001. Somewhere there are probably boards continuing the list into the present day - we wonder if the job title has yet been de-gendered?
Site: St John's Cloister Garden of Remembrance (9 memorials)
EC1, St John's Square, St John's Cloister Garden
The cloister garden is accessed through the gates in the building on St John Square. . The garden was first established in the post war reconstruction, the Blitz having removed some buildings which had been on the site.
Most of the memorials are in the cloister (seen in our photo) on the eastern boundary wall of the garden. Walking this from north to south you will see: St John Ambulance Brigade; St John Ambulance Association WW1 and WW2; Interred; Centenary; Joint Committee; Cannonball and Priory Church.
The Crucifixion plaque is low on the external wall of the cloister. The 1907 Repairs plaque is on the garden's north boundary wall (the church's south wall).
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