I had imagined that the failure of the proposed Blue Light Museum, which was intended to display the historical collections of London’s three emergency services (the Metropolitan Police, the London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service), would create all the more attention for the Museum of the Order of St John, at St John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, which has just reopened after a 14-month revamp.
But, as it turns out, the history of the St John Ambulance Foundation, its first-aid training and emergency medical care, which only goes back to the 1880s, is the least of it.
The museum describes itself as one of the great hidden treasures of London. Despite capital funding of £1.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and money from other donors, it is still far from being conspicuous.
Visitors approach it through the unmarked medieval gatehouse of the former Priory of the Knights of St John. Once inside, you still get the impression that you’re intruding. In a sense, you are.
The galleries are housed in what remains a working building used by the Order and the St John Ambulance. The feeling of intrusion is also partly to do with there being a fine line between museum volunteers belonging to an in-crowd and exuding an air of exclusivity.
There is also the feeling that the Order doesn’t appear to want too many visitors. It’s closed on Sundays and Bank Holiday weekends – precisely the kind of times when you might want to go. Also, its capacity is fairly limited, and it only runs six guided tours a week. As I discovered, the tours are fairly crucial.
The galleries are small, but beautiful. No question about it: they’re elegant, pristine and professional. They house the most important items in the collection – exquisite medieval treasures from the Middle East and Europe: paintings, illuminated manuscripts, armour, cannon, ancient coins, furniture, ceramics, silverware and textiles.
Thousand-year history
The displays are animated by a timeline, audiovisual displays and actor interventions. When I visited, the “Fortitude Under Fire” performance by a Voluntary Aid Detachment Nurse talking about courage and duty on the western front in the first world war, pretty much filled one of the three galleries, which we didn’t have time to revisit.
But if you restrict your visit to the galleries, you’ll be missing out on the main event. The three galleries simply can’t cover the long and hugely complex story of the Order of St John.
The Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem was established in the 11th century, following the first crusade’s capture of Jerusalem. The Order comprised a group of knights, drawn from noble European families, who took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They also assumed care of the sick, and established a hospital to care for pilgrims who had travelled to the Holy Land.
Sovereign entity
Clearly much of the Order’s history was determined by its opposition. It was forced to be peripatetic – the precise reasons for that are unclear. In 1291, it was driven from Palestine, which had been recaptured by Muslim forces; it moved to Cyprus and then Rhodes, which it left in 1522, after the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, conquered the island.
It moved to Malta, until it was expelled by Napoleon in 1798. A suite of paintings testify to the Order’s period during which – as the Knights of Malta – its ships patrolled the Mediterranean, guarding trade routes.
The vestige of the original Roman Catholic order – the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta – still has its headquarters in Rome. Its legacy is manifest in the fact that it describes itself as a sovereign entity, with diplomatic relations with 104 states, and is engaged in international charity work.
Walking around the galleries, it is clear that the politics and history of the Order are not only hard to grasp, but harder to come to terms with. The Order embraced the charitable care of the sick and wounded, without distinction of race, colour or creed, but it also fought the “infidel”.
Despite being a holy order, faith, hope and charity transmuted into faith, charity and armed conflict. Offering care indiscriminately transformed into discrimination and racism.
It must have been galling for the Hospitallers of St John, or Knights Hospitallers, to have had to rely on the superior skills of their enemies, the most advanced scientists of their time.
Unfortunately, the museum offers little in the way of social or political histories, and makes no attempt to reconcile the Order’s past with the world that its visitors occupy.
There’s nothing more frustrating than knowing that you’re not getting the full picture as you go around a museum. It means that the displays never quite fall into place. St John’s clearly needs a historian to explain it.
The guided tour helped, although there was a lot of slack in its 90 minutes. It covered the chapter hall; the council chamber, where plaques commemorate royal patrons and notable members of the Order; and the museum’s second site, the Priory church building.
This is occupied by the church, crypt, learning centre, cloister and cloister garden. Just by crossing the road, you realise how the Priory once dominated the locality: St John’s Lane, St John’s Place, St John’s Square and St John’s Street.
The past dominated the guided tour, which focused on what the Order once was. The Priory was set up as the English headquarters of the Order in 1140s and overseen by a grand master.
It was reputedly the third largest landowner in the country. But it was dissolved after Henry VIII split from the Catholic Church and stripped out its assets. The tour guide gave the impression that this still rankled.
First aid and ambulances
Following the reformation, the Order’s Clerkenwell premises had a number of different uses in the subsequent centuries. During the 16th century they housed the offices of the master of the revels. Many of Shakespeare’s plays received their licences here; the playwright himself must have visited on many occasions.
In the 18th century, the gate had a brief incarnation as a coffee house run by William Hogarth’s father. Dr Johnson had his first London job at St John’s Gate, writing for the Gentlemen’s Magazine.
Later, as the Old Jerusalem Tavern, it was the meeting place for artists and writers, including Charles Dickens. This was where the modern Order of St John in England was born. Promoting public first aid and ambulance transport services in the newly industrialised England and across its empire, it was granted a Royal Charter in 1888.
Today, the Order of St John is active in over 40 countries across the world. It trains people in first aid; helps accident victims in industrial workplaces; and supports pubic events.
Until the mid-20th century, it was the only ambulance service in existence. Today, its principal charitable foundations are the St John Ambulance and the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Foundation.
Although visitors will be most familiar with the modern St John, it has relatively little visibility in the museum. Its main emphasis on the history of the Order is reminiscent of the Knights Templars, who were also founded to protect Christian pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem, and whose Temple church, is close to St John’s.
Visitors to the museum should expect an experience that is more Da Vinci Code than Blue Light.
Sara Selwood is an independent museum consultant
Cost £3.7m
Main funders Heritage Lottery Fund £1.5m, Wellcome Trust, Wolfson Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation
Exhibition design Metaphor
Construction Mivan
Project management Cultural Innovations
Architect DIA Associates
But, as it turns out, the history of the St John Ambulance Foundation, its first-aid training and emergency medical care, which only goes back to the 1880s, is the least of it.
The museum describes itself as one of the great hidden treasures of London. Despite capital funding of £1.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and money from other donors, it is still far from being conspicuous.
Visitors approach it through the unmarked medieval gatehouse of the former Priory of the Knights of St John. Once inside, you still get the impression that you’re intruding. In a sense, you are.
The galleries are housed in what remains a working building used by the Order and the St John Ambulance. The feeling of intrusion is also partly to do with there being a fine line between museum volunteers belonging to an in-crowd and exuding an air of exclusivity.
There is also the feeling that the Order doesn’t appear to want too many visitors. It’s closed on Sundays and Bank Holiday weekends – precisely the kind of times when you might want to go. Also, its capacity is fairly limited, and it only runs six guided tours a week. As I discovered, the tours are fairly crucial.
The galleries are small, but beautiful. No question about it: they’re elegant, pristine and professional. They house the most important items in the collection – exquisite medieval treasures from the Middle East and Europe: paintings, illuminated manuscripts, armour, cannon, ancient coins, furniture, ceramics, silverware and textiles.
Thousand-year history
The displays are animated by a timeline, audiovisual displays and actor interventions. When I visited, the “Fortitude Under Fire” performance by a Voluntary Aid Detachment Nurse talking about courage and duty on the western front in the first world war, pretty much filled one of the three galleries, which we didn’t have time to revisit.
But if you restrict your visit to the galleries, you’ll be missing out on the main event. The three galleries simply can’t cover the long and hugely complex story of the Order of St John.
The Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem was established in the 11th century, following the first crusade’s capture of Jerusalem. The Order comprised a group of knights, drawn from noble European families, who took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They also assumed care of the sick, and established a hospital to care for pilgrims who had travelled to the Holy Land.
Sovereign entity
Clearly much of the Order’s history was determined by its opposition. It was forced to be peripatetic – the precise reasons for that are unclear. In 1291, it was driven from Palestine, which had been recaptured by Muslim forces; it moved to Cyprus and then Rhodes, which it left in 1522, after the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, conquered the island.
It moved to Malta, until it was expelled by Napoleon in 1798. A suite of paintings testify to the Order’s period during which – as the Knights of Malta – its ships patrolled the Mediterranean, guarding trade routes.
The vestige of the original Roman Catholic order – the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta – still has its headquarters in Rome. Its legacy is manifest in the fact that it describes itself as a sovereign entity, with diplomatic relations with 104 states, and is engaged in international charity work.
Walking around the galleries, it is clear that the politics and history of the Order are not only hard to grasp, but harder to come to terms with. The Order embraced the charitable care of the sick and wounded, without distinction of race, colour or creed, but it also fought the “infidel”.
Despite being a holy order, faith, hope and charity transmuted into faith, charity and armed conflict. Offering care indiscriminately transformed into discrimination and racism.
It must have been galling for the Hospitallers of St John, or Knights Hospitallers, to have had to rely on the superior skills of their enemies, the most advanced scientists of their time.
Unfortunately, the museum offers little in the way of social or political histories, and makes no attempt to reconcile the Order’s past with the world that its visitors occupy.
There’s nothing more frustrating than knowing that you’re not getting the full picture as you go around a museum. It means that the displays never quite fall into place. St John’s clearly needs a historian to explain it.
The guided tour helped, although there was a lot of slack in its 90 minutes. It covered the chapter hall; the council chamber, where plaques commemorate royal patrons and notable members of the Order; and the museum’s second site, the Priory church building.
This is occupied by the church, crypt, learning centre, cloister and cloister garden. Just by crossing the road, you realise how the Priory once dominated the locality: St John’s Lane, St John’s Place, St John’s Square and St John’s Street.
The past dominated the guided tour, which focused on what the Order once was. The Priory was set up as the English headquarters of the Order in 1140s and overseen by a grand master.
It was reputedly the third largest landowner in the country. But it was dissolved after Henry VIII split from the Catholic Church and stripped out its assets. The tour guide gave the impression that this still rankled.
First aid and ambulances
Following the reformation, the Order’s Clerkenwell premises had a number of different uses in the subsequent centuries. During the 16th century they housed the offices of the master of the revels. Many of Shakespeare’s plays received their licences here; the playwright himself must have visited on many occasions.
In the 18th century, the gate had a brief incarnation as a coffee house run by William Hogarth’s father. Dr Johnson had his first London job at St John’s Gate, writing for the Gentlemen’s Magazine.
Later, as the Old Jerusalem Tavern, it was the meeting place for artists and writers, including Charles Dickens. This was where the modern Order of St John in England was born. Promoting public first aid and ambulance transport services in the newly industrialised England and across its empire, it was granted a Royal Charter in 1888.
Today, the Order of St John is active in over 40 countries across the world. It trains people in first aid; helps accident victims in industrial workplaces; and supports pubic events.
Until the mid-20th century, it was the only ambulance service in existence. Today, its principal charitable foundations are the St John Ambulance and the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Foundation.
Although visitors will be most familiar with the modern St John, it has relatively little visibility in the museum. Its main emphasis on the history of the Order is reminiscent of the Knights Templars, who were also founded to protect Christian pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem, and whose Temple church, is close to St John’s.
Visitors to the museum should expect an experience that is more Da Vinci Code than Blue Light.
Sara Selwood is an independent museum consultant
Project data
Cost £3.7m
Main funders Heritage Lottery Fund £1.5m, Wellcome Trust, Wolfson Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation
Exhibition design Metaphor
Construction Mivan
Project management Cultural Innovations
Architect DIA Associates
