Spotlight Saturday: Medicine and the Army

From leeches to battlefield ambulances, discover how Army medicine has developed from the Civil War to the present day.

On arrival, collect a casualty card to find out your illness or injury. Then discover how you would have been treated in different eras.

English Civil War

Get up close with real-life leeches and discover how they were used to treat soldiers on the bloody battlefields of the English Civil War.

Crimean War

Get hands on with objects from the Crimean War and find out more about the work of Florence Nightingale.

World Wars

Speak to a First World War military doctor and find out how he dealt with casualties on the Western Front. Meet a Second World War nurse and hear her experiences of D-Day and beyond.

Present day

Climb aboard a battlefield ambulance and speak to serving soldiers from 256 City of London Field Hospital about their work and equipment. You can even meet a military working dog and their handler.

Then, speak to soldiers from 221 Explosive Ordnance Disposal & Search Field Squadron. They will demonstrate their important roles in bomb disposal, including first-response treatment of casualties.
Waterloo after the Glory

Renowned military historian Gareth Glover talks about Napoleonic surgery, illustrating his talk with hospital sketches and reports on the wounded of Waterloo.
Family workshops

Discover how the Army has been a source of medical innovations and invent your own life-saving device in our family-friendly workshop.