To “Labour with a Greater Sense of Safety”: First Aid, Civic Duty, and Risk Management in the British Working Class, 1870–1914

Abstract

Abstract Much has been written about British ideals of citizenship in the face of heightened social discord, particularly in times of war. There is a lack of analysis, however, relating notions of civic duty to the risks faced by British people in their everyday lives. Further, most scholarship on civic duty as it relates to the perception and management of risk focuses on the twentieth century and, in particular, the World Wars. This article seeks to examine civic participation in an earlier time period—from 1870 to 1914—through the lens of the civilian first-aid movement. We argue that first aid presented working-class men with a way to manage novel forms of risk introduced by new and dangerous technologies in the workplace and in their daily lives. Applying first-aid training provided these men with a way to participate in a burgeoning working-class culture of self-reliance, altruism, and civic duty. This article contributes to the discussion surrounding expressions of citizenship in the civilian realm and presents a new perspective on the significance of the British first-aid movement.