The story of the poppy
The poppy brooch is now an iconic symbol of remembrance and the British Legion, but it has a fascinating history…
The first record of a Poppy Day in Britain was in South Shields in 1915 where poppies were sold to raise £200 for the local infirmary and poor children. But it would take a tenacious French woman, Anna Guérin, who has since been overlooked by the history books, to really make the poppy our national symbol of remembrance.
Following the First World War, Anna had been inspired by Major John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields, in which he reflected on the Flanders poppies that thrived in battlefields that were otherwise scenes of total destruction.
Anna had moved to the United States, and started promoting the poppy as a symbol of remembrance as well as selling handmade poppy brooches to raise funds for the needy.
In 1921 she wanted to spread her idea further afield, so in September that year she knocked on the headquarters of the British Legion, just four months after it was founded, to ask if they would like to use the poppy emblem to raise money. Initially, the Legion was sceptical
– “Poppies? Who wants poppies?” was apparently the response – but eventually the organisation came round and November 11, 1921 was declared both Remembrance Day and Poppy Day. Nine million poppies were put up for sale but were so popular they sold out. A huge £106,000 (£5.2 million in today’s money) was raised, and a new tradition was established.
From there, a Poppy Factory was built in Richmond to employ disabled ex-servicemen, and to this day millions of poppies and wreaths are still made here. That first poppy Anna created was made of red fabric with a green stalk and a little banner that read ‘British Legion Remembrance Day’. It progressed to a five-petal poppy with black stitching in the middle, beads and a leaf. In the Second World War austerity forced simplicity and it became just a red poppy with a black button. Today, the simplified design is made on mass, with the black button made by inmates at HM Prison Lewes.