Britain’s oldest poppy seller dies at age of 103

Britain’s longest-serving poppy seller has died at the age of 103, nine days after being presented with her MBE.

Rosemary Powell helped her mother sell poppies on Richmond Bridge for the Royal British Legion’s first Poppy Appeal in 1921, aged six.

She spent the next 97 years collecting for the charity, but announced earlier this year that she would be hanging up her tin for the final time.

The great-grandmother, from London, was included in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her remarkable service to the Legion.

On 6 August, she sat in a wheelchair draped in a poppy-patterned blanket and was handed the MBE on behalf of the Queen by the Vice Lord-lieutenant of Greater London, Colonel Jane Davis. She died on 15 August.