You see them every day, on the streets, at work, on television, at train stations: poppies. For many people, November is the month of remembrance, the time of showing one’s sympathy for the soldiers of past and present times as well as for their families and friends by buying and wearing a poppy. But though they are so present in our everyday life, only few people know how the red flowers came to being such a significant symbol of remembrance in Britain.

The origins of the Poppy Appeal fall into the time after the First World War (1914-1918). This war differed intensively from all the preceded conflicts as it caused far more injuries and death because of the new technology made use of. Therefore, both remembrance and the need for a welfare organisation addressing those who had been affected by war (especially veterans or families of the fallen) started to become an issue of growing importance.

The idea about poppies as a symbol of remembrance was started off by the poem “In Flanders Fields” written by the Canadian Medical Officer John McCrae. After the poem had been published in December 1915, it attracted the attention of Miss Moina Michael, a young American woman who trained the YMCA war workers during the Great War. In November 1918, she bought twenty-five artificial poppies which were to be worn in memory of the dead at a conference of YMCA overseas workers - an idea marking the beginning of Miss Michael’s campaign to make poppies an emblem of remembrance.

On 14 May 1921, the British Legion was founded. Its Colonel Crosfield was soon contacted by Mme Guerin who was involved in organising the production of the poppies which were, at that time, manufactured in France. She suggested that the Legion might be interested in using the sale of poppies for fundraising purposes. The Legion bought nine million poppies which were then sold on Armistice Day, the 11th of November of the same year, as this was the next suitable occasion. The huge success of this very first Poppy Appeal was reflected in the (in today’s terms) almost £30 million raised, the running out of supplies and the Queen’s invitation of poppy sellers into Buckingham Palace. The Poppy Appeal was born and, though facing troubles in the 1960 due to the decreasing numbers of volunteers, has since then been successfully run by the Royal British Legion.

Its initial idea coming from a Canadian Medical Officer’s poem, put into practice in America and reaching Britain over manufactures in France, the wearing of poppies as a symbol of remembrance has evolved into an essential British tradition.

 

Stefanie Tegeler

Bromley High School