The First Poppy
The poppy as a symbol of hope and remembrance began when American Monia Michael was inspired by Lt Col John McCrae’s poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ and she started wearing a poppy in commemoration of the fallen. In 1918 she sold 24 poppies at a YMCA conference in New York. In 1920 the American Legion adopted the poppy, and Canada followed in 1921.
Anna Guerin made fabric poppies in France, selling them to raise money for children orphaned by the war. She convinced Field Marshal Haig to adopt the poppy for the newly founded British Legion who sold the first poppies in Great Britain in the run up to Armistice Day in 1921.
We are proud to hold one of these early poppies, shown here with the medals of Bombardier Archibald Edward Morris, Royal Garrison Artillery. He was killed in action aged 33 on 24th April 1917 and is buried at Achiet le Grand Cemetery in France. He left behind a widow Charlotte and two children, Frederick aged 15 and Ena aged 8. A grateful government offered the family a pension of 15 shillings a week for Charlotte and 9 shillings and 2 pence a week for the children until they reached the age of 18.
In Flanders’ Fields by John McCrae
In Flanders’ Fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders’ Fields
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders’ Fields
