Thomas Stretcher

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The Thomas Stretcher is a British mountain rescue stretcher created in the 1930s by a climbing club committee to help carry injured climbers over rough ground. After a member was badly hurt in a fall and had to be carried on a makeshift stretcher from a farm gate (with his leg later amputated), the Rucksack Club formed a Stretcher Committee. In 1933, this committee joined with the Fell & Rock Climbing Club to form the Joint Stretcher Committee. By Easter 1934 they designed “A Stretcher,” which became known as the Thomas Stretcher, named after committee member Eustace Thomas, along with recommendations for first aid and survival gear to accompany it. The equipment could be packed into two rucksacks.

The basic stretcher had a lightweight aluminium frame and a canvas bed, with extendible handles at each corner that folded for narrow paths. Wooden skis kept the casualty off the ground and allowed sledging on mud or snow. The Thomas Stretcher was widely used in UK mountain rescue until the early 1970s, when it was superseded by the Bell Stretcher. Modified Thomas Stretchers are still used today by at least one English Mountain Rescue Team.