Dr Beaston's medical officer uniform, United Kingdom, 1898-1

On most of the buttons of this uniform are the words “Royal Army Medical Corps” with the symbol of snake coiled around a rod. The Corps was part of the British Army and was founded in 1898, although there had been a long history of medical units providing care and treatment for soldiers. The rod and snake symbol is associated with Asklepios, the Greek and Roman god of healing and medicine and has …