On Saturday, August 28, 1948, Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma opened the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE). St. John Ambulance provided first aid service to the CNE’s visitors and had displays and first aid demonstrations throughout the fair days. The Mountbattens visited the St. John Ambulance volunteers, who demonstrated their first aid techniques. People would undoubtedly need assistance with the temperature rising to 100 degrees Fahrenheit on opening day.
In the 1940s and 1950s, St. John Ambulance had a significant presence at the CNE. St. John’s activity included first aid demonstrations, exhibits about the Brigade, a St. John Ambulance Day, and providing first aid to visitors to the fair. Today, although there are no exhibits, demonstrations, or a St. John Ambulance Day, there is still a St. John Ambulance unit providing first aid and a group that marches in the Warriors Day Parade, held on the first Saturday of the CNE.
Earl Louis Mountbatten was made a Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of St. John in 1940, at the same time that his wife Edwina was admitted as a Dame (see The London Gazette, issue 34878, June 21, 1940). Of the couple, Edwina was the one who devoted herself to St. John Ambulance.
Edwina joined St. John Ambulance in November 1939, first by serving as County President of St. John Ambulance Brigade in London. She quickly distinguished herself by putting St. John volunteers in first aid posts, air raid shelters, and tube stations. She developed the Shelter, First Aid Post, and Rest Centre Scheme, a plan to ensure sufficient St. John volunteer staffing in the boroughs of London. In 1942, Edwina became Lady Superintendent-in-Chief of the Brigade following the death of the incumbent Lady Superintendent-in-Chief, Lorna Atkinson.
She spent much of 1943 inspecting St. John Ambulance divisions in Britain and convalescent homes and nurseries run by the Joint War Organisation (the wartime collaboration of St. John Ambulance and British Red Cross). In 1945, she visited St. John Ambulance units in India, Burma (now Myanmar), and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Between 1945 and 1946, she worked to locate and rescue thousands of prisoners of war in Asia. Edwina did not give orders to others from a distance but led by example and went into the swamps and jungles to find and aid the prisoners. In recognition of her wartime service, the Most Venerable Order of St. John promoted her to Dame Grand Cross, a grade higher than her husband.
Edwina continued volunteering in St. John Ambulance after World War II. Despite heart problems and chest pains, she went on an inspection tour of St. John Ambulance in North Borneo in 1960. She died in her sleep there on the morning of February 21, 1960.
As a member of the Royal Family, Edwina Mountbatten performed ceremonial duties in St. John Ambulance, but her role was far from entirely ceremonial. She was a front-line St. John Ambulance volunteer and leader to her last day.
For a more detailed history of Edwina Mountbatten’s service in St. John Ambulance, see the Museum of the Order of St. John: https://museumstjohn.org.uk/edwina-mountbatten-viceroys-house/
