According to the Red Cross principle of unity, there can only be one Red Cross or one Red Crescent Society in any one country. It must be open to all and must carry on its humanitarian work throughout its territory. Therefore, in many Overseas Territories administered from Britain, the local Branch has been part of the British Red Cross.
As Britain's Overseas Territories have gained independent nationhood, most of these Branches became their own Red Cross National Society recognised by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
We still have Overseas Branches. The list below shows all the Overseas Branches we've had, noting the date the Branch was formed, and whether it became a Red Cross National Society after independence.
1896 Canada: Canadian Red Cross Society 1909
1913 Australia: Australian Red Cross Society 1927
1916 New Zealand Branch of BRCS and Order of St John: New Zealand Red Cross Society 1932
1930 Kenya: Kenya Red Cross 1965
1930 Southern Rhodesia (1937 became Central Council Branch): Zimbabwe Red Cross 1981
1932 Gold Coast: Ghana Red Cross 1959
1932 Swaziland: Baphalali Swaziland Red Cross Society 1970
1933 Nyasaland: Malawi 1966
1935 Seychelles: Seychelles Red Cross Society 1990
1937 Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Red Cross 1962
1938 Ceylon (Central Council Branch): Sri Lanka Red Cross 1949
1939 Trinidad and Tobago (Central Council Branch): Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross 1963
1941 Antigua: Antigua and Barbuda 1983
1941 Mauritius: Mauritius Red Cross Society 1973
1941 Uganda (Central Council Branch): Uganda Red Cross Society 1964
1942 St Kitts and Nevis: St Kitts and Nevis Red Cross Society 1985
1942 Nigeria: Nigeria Red Cross 1961
1946/7 Falkland Islands
1947 Newfoundland: Became a Province of Canada 1948
1948 Bechuanaland: Botswana 1968
1948 British Guiana: Guyana 1967
1948 Gibraltar (Central Council Branch until 1957)
1948 Jamaica: Jamaica Red Cross 1962
1948 North Borneo: Sabah (part of Malaysian Red Cross Society. Malaysian Red Crescent Society from 1975) 1962
1948 Sarawak, part of Malaysian Red Cross Society 1962. Malaysian Red Crescent Society from 1975
1948 Brunei: Brunei Darussalam Red Crescent Society 1984
1948 Montserrat
1949 The Gambia: Gambia Red Cross Society 1965
1949 Hong Kong: Joined Chinese Red Cross 1997
1949 St Lucia: St Lucia Red Cross 1979
1949 St Vincent: St Vincent and the Grenadines Red Cross 1984
1949 Singapore: Singapore Red Cross Society 1962
1949 Tanganyika: (following merger between Tanganyika and Zanzibar) Tanzania Red Cross Society 1964
1949/50 Northern Rhodesia: Zambia Red Cross Society 1964
1950 Basutoland: Lesotho Red Cross Society 1967
1950 Bermuda
1950 British Honduras: Belize 1983
1950 Cyprus: 1967
1950 Fiji: Fiji Red Cross Society 1971
1951 Federation of Malaya: part of Malaysian Red Cross Society 1962. Malaysian Red Crescent Society from 1975 1962
1951 Solomon Islands: Solomon Islands Red Cross 1983
1953 Zanzibar: (following merger between Tanganyika and Zanzibar) Tanzania Red Cross Society 1962
1954 British Somaliland: Somali Red Crescent Society 1960
1955 St Helena: Inactive 2007
1956 Grenada (as Committee, 1959 Branch): Grenada 1981
1958 Dominica: Dominica Red Cross 1983
1958 Aden: (Dem Rep of) South Yemen 1967
1959 Barbados (Committee 1955): Barbados Red Cross 1969
Committees
1952 Malta: Malta Red Cross 1991
1953 Zanzibar: Joined Tanganyika (q.v.)Tanzania Red Cross Society 1964
1956 New Hebrides (Condo): Vanuatu 1982
1960 British Virgin Islands
1961/2 Tonga: Tonga Red Cross Society 1972
1965 Gilbert and Ellice Islands: Kiribati Red Cross 1989
1967 Turks and Caicos Islands
1969 Cayman Islands
1976 * Anguilla
1977 Tuvalu (formerly part of Ellice Islands): Tuvalu (National Society pending recognition 2007) 1981
* St Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla
The two islands of St Kitts and Nevis, together with Anguilla, were united in 1882, and became an independent state in association with the United Kingdom in 1967. There were objections by Anguilla to the administration, which it considered to be dominated by St Kitts, and independence was declared by Anguilla later that year. Negotiations to resolve the dispute failed, and after being placed directly under British control in 1971, Anguilla was granted its own constitution in 1975 and union with St Kitts and Nevis formally severed in 1980.