Stretcher carrier with rubber tyres and spoke wheels, made by W. Goodyear & Sons Ltd of Dudley, England, for use by British medical personnel during the First World War, 1914-1918.

Moving both men and materials around the battlefield environments of the First World War was extremely challenging. The evacuation of wounded men from the Western Front was especially difficult given the huge numbers of casualties, the conditions associated with the sprawling trench systems and the fact that evacuation often happened under fire.

Between the front line and the First Aid and Dressing Stations where medical treatment could be given there often lay a ravaged landscape. Transporting a wounded soldier across it could take many hours, required at least two men to carry a stretcher and demanded great physical strength. Wherever possible, faster more efficient forms of transport were employed. This wheeled stretcher carrier could accommodate a standard wooden framed canvas stretcher and in the right conditions, if appropriate, could be operated by single bearers working a relay type system back and forth between a point of care and a collection area near the front lines.

The carrier was made by the engineering company W. Goodyear & Sons Ltd in Dudley, England, c1914-1918.