Dunant, Jean Henri

Dunant, Jean Henri (1828-1910), Swiss banker, founder of the International Red Cross Society.

By chance, Jean Henri Dunant saw the Battle of Solferino between France and Austria in 1859. He was shocked at the way wounded soldiers were left untreated and he wrote a book about what he had seen. As a result, people from sixteen nations met in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1863-64 and made an agreement called the Geneva Convention. This lays down rules for the care of wounded and the treatment of prisoners in war.

The the Geneva Convention gives protection to doctors, nurses and others giving aid providing that they wear the badge of a red cross on a white background.