Blue Cross

Blue Cross may refer to:

Animal healthcare and welfare

Human healthcare

Buildings

Blue Cross (animal charity)

Blue Cross is a registered animal welfare charity in the United Kingdom, founded in 1897 as Our Dumb Friends League. The charity provides support for pet owners who cannot afford private veterinary treatment, helps to find homes for unwanted animals, and educates the public in the responsibilities of animal ownership.

The charity works closely with a number of other organizations to promote animal welfare and responsible pet ownership.

History

The organisation was founded on 10 May 1897 in London as Our Dumb Friends League, to care for working horses on the streets of the British capital. It opened its first animal hospital, in Victoria, London, on 15 May 1906.

In 1912, the league launched The Blue Cross Fund to care for horses during the Balkan War. On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, it was quickly reopened again. By the armistice in 1918, the Blue Cross Fund had raised nearly £170,000 – the equivalent of almost £6.5 million today – to care for the animals of conflict. Over 50,000 horses were treated in Blue Cross hospitals in France, and the charity had sent vital veterinary supplies to 3,500 units of the British Army.

Blue Cross (chemical warfare)

Blue Cross (Blaukreuz) is a World War I chemical warfare agent consisting of diphenylchloroarsine (DA, Clark I), diphenylcyanoarsine (CDA, Clark II), ethyldichloroarsine (Dick), and/or methyldichloroarsine (Methyldick). Clark I and Clark II were the main agents used.

Clark I was used with Green Cross munition earlier; however for the first time it was used as a standalone agent in the night from July 10 to July 11 1917 at Nieuwpoort, Belgium, during "Operation Strandfest". The artillery munition used as a delivery vehicle contained a large amount of glass spheres closed with a cork and sealed with trinitrotoluene. Later N-ethylcarbazole was added. Depending on the caliber, the munition contained between 7 and 120 kilograms of the agent.

Blue Cross is also a generic World War I German marking for artillery shells with chemical payload affecting the upper respiratory tract.

See also