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London Ambulance Service Historic Collection

The London Ambulance Service Historic Collection, funded by our charity and supported by volunteers, is responsible for maintaining a fleet of 30 historic vehicles, archive photographs, documents, uniforms and associated memorabilia and ambulance equipment.

Background

Established on the 1 February 1915, London Ambulance Service is one of the world’s oldest and largest ambulance services. We have a unique, long and interesting history supported by a large collection of historical vehicles, equipment and memorabilia which have been collected over the years. Our collection includes over 20 vehicles, equipment, uniforms, blueprints, documents, books, badges, medals and other ambulance related items.

The vehicles in the collection range from the late 1800s through to more modern vehicles from the 1980s and 2000s. We have examples of ambulances from almost every decade over the last 120 years, including a hand litter and a horse-drawn carriage. We also have two of the rarest ambulances – a W&G DuCros and a 1935 Talbot, thought to be the only surviving examples.

Our collection is run and maintained largely by volunteers, many of whom are current or former London Ambulance Service staff. Some even used the vehicles and equipment during their career.

Watch this Classic Cars Weekly video to take a tour.

Help us fund the Historic Collection via our partnership with the London Ambulance Charity

Charitable funding helps us undertake larger projects and improve the collection as a whole. Support is needed to help with:

  • Digitisation – To provide greater access and prolonged availability for the future
  • Renovation – To restore and repair classic vehicles
  • Presentation – To provide curated displays that can be shared more broadly with the public

London Ambulance Historical Collection – JustGiving

Working with us

We can work on long-term projects or one-off arrangements. Contact the Head of Historic Collections in the contact section to make your enquiry. We may be able to offer some of our vehicles for filming or hire. We can also provide historic accuracy and in some cases access to original documents and uniforms.

Alongside the Historic Collection team, our commercial team can also support, particularly with the arrangement of long term services and contracts. Our commercial team can also be contacted via the contact us section.

Image shows two historic ambulances parked in a field.

  • We offer a consultancy service on historical and modern ambulance operations, training and usage for the film/TV/stage industries.

    Some of the film and television productions we have worked on include:

    • Poirot
    • Grantchester
    • To Olivia
    • Trigonometry
    • Bargain Hunt Children in Need Special

  • We hold a number of records and photographs detailing the ambulance services in London back to 1832.

    In some cases we can provide a list of documents we hold and arrange personal visits to our archive near Sevenoaks, Kent, to assist with your research.

    • 1880 – Bischoffsheim Hand Cart
    • 1890 – Horse drawn ambulance
    • 1927 – W&G Du Cros ambulance
    • 1935 – Talbot ambulance
    • 1949 – Daimler ambulance
    • 1965 – Morris Wandsworth ambulance (x2)
    • 1966 – Land Rover Series 2a incident control unit
    • 1967 – Morris Wadhams
    • 1977 – Bedford CF1 ambulance
    • 1977 – Reeves Sovam ambulance prototype
    • 1983 – Mercedes W123 estate car ambulance
    • 1987 – Bedford CF2 ambulance
    • 1991 – Norton Commander paramedic motorcycle
    • 1992 – Renault Espace paramedic officer’s car
    • 1994 – DAF ambulance
    • 1994 – LDV ambulance
    • 1994 – Honda ST1100 paramedic motorcycle
    • 1994 – Renault B120 emergency equipment vehicle
    • 2000 – LDV ambulance
    • 2000 – paramedic response mountain bike
    • 2005 – Honda ST1300 paramedic motorcycle
    • 2005 – Mercedes Sprinter ambulance
    • 2012 – BMW response car
    • 2012 – Honda St1300 paramedic motorcycle
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