There is so much going on this time of the year Halloween, Bonfire night and Remembrance Day, but covid has put a dampener on all. There will be no mass gatherings around the country, at city, town and village memorials. How will you remember the war dead, human and animal? What do you call it Poppy Day, Armistice Day or Remembrance Day? Everyone calls it something different. When I was asked to write this blog I didn’t know what I would find. Many newspaper reports basically say that there was a church service and wreaths laid at memorials, but I did find some interesting snippets that you may or may not know. I hope you enjoy this article.
Why the Poppy when did it all start?
The beautiful landscapes of France and Flanders were totally transformed over 4 years of war and bloodshed. The landscape was turned into a muddy quagmire, bleak and barren where nothing surely could grow. However the bright red of the Flanders poppy flourished in the middle of the destruction and chaos and they grew in their thousands. In 1915, Canadian Lt. Colonel John McCrea, wrote a poem following the loss of a close friend and was moved by the sight of these poppies. The poem was called ‘In Flanders Fields’. This poem inspired an American academic Professor Moina Michael to adopt the poppy in memory of the fallen and started a campaign across the world. A French lady called Anna Guerin was in London in 1921 selling poppies when she met Earl Haigh founder of Royal British Legion and she persuaded him to adopt the poppy as the organisations emblem which we have all grown up to recognise. The British Legion ordered 11 million poppies that year and they quickly sold out. The Legion raised £106,000. To ensure that in years to come there were plenty poppies for future appeals, Major George Howson set up a poppy factory which employed disabled ex servicemen to make them.
Earl Haig’s wife Lady Haig set up a similar factory in Edinburgh, producing poppies for the Scottish populace. These are different from the English poppy as they have four petals and no leaf like ours. Today these are still made by hand by disabled ex servicemen.
The use of the poppy is an apt emblem to adopt as it is a symbol of sleep, peace and death. Sleep because the opium extracted from the poppy is used as a sedative and the blood red colour a symbol of death. In Greek and Roman mythology poppies were used as an offering to the dead.
Did you know that the Queen wears 5 poppies? It is not known why, but many believe that it represents the services in war – Army, Navy, Royal Air Force, Civil Defence and Women.
The first Armistice Day was held on 11 Nov. 1919, a year after hostiles ceased and peace was declared. In response to Politicians and suggestions by King George V the country paused for a two minute silence and this happened until the outbreak of World War Two. After World War Two Armistice Day was replaced in a way by Remembrance Sunday and this was standardised in 1956 and fixed to the second Sunday of the month.
In November 1922, the Blyth News reported that Armistice Day was observed by the sale of Flanders Poppies in aid of Ex Servicemen’s funds. The Band of Blyth Royal Field Artillery met in the market place and played a selection of hymns at 11 o’clock, bussers sounded and church bells rang to mark the two minute silence. Interestingly the day before, a ceremony took place at the Wellesley Nautical School when the boys sang “Lest we Forget” before the wonderfully names Captain Kitcat gave an address before the two minute silence and prayers.
In September 1927 the same newspaper published an interesting article on how some of our allies celebrate the day – “Great Britain celebrates Armistice Day not as a day of national grief, but rather as a commemoration of a great occasion in the National History. The following statement appears in an Admiralty Fleet Order. The Order lays down procedure to be followed on board ships and states that when other ships are present from other nations. The procedure maybe complicated owning to differences in the conception as to how the day should be observed. In France the achievement of victory is more emphasised, while in Italy the birthday of the King is celebrated on that day. When a British ship is with ships of any nation (except Italy) there will be a short service followed by a two minute silence and then the last post will be sounded. Ships are not, to half mast the colours. If the vessel is in a French port or near a French ship the French custom of dressing ship, firing salutes and illuminating will not be followed. If in Italy or near Italian ships then at 8am the ship must be dressed, 10.35 undress the ship; 10.45 to 11.05 British Ceremony at 12 noon redress the ship fire royal salute of 21 guns at sunset undress ship.
In 1929 the BBC announced that the Cenotaph Service for Armistice Day will be relayed from Whitehall to all BBC stations on the experimental short wave transmitters. At 10.30-10.45 the massed bands of the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scot, Irish and Welsh Guards will play a selection of hymns. At 10.50 there will be a pause whilst the Prince of Wales lays a wreath on behalf of the King. The chimes of Big Ben will sound the start of the two minutes silence and then a trumpeter from Royal Air Force will play the Last Post.
The Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail published an article on 11 November 1939, that could describe anywhere and what are parents and grandparents must have experienced. “Armistice day in a world of sandbags boarded up windows, whitened pavements, gas masks and tin helmets, but still bought an important message. There might not be parades in Whitehall, no official silence and less public shows of remembrance through the country, but nearly every hoarding proclaims courage, resolution, sacrifice which is at the heart of Armistice and what the country still needs. Alongside the British Poppy there appears the French Cornflower. Two Million Cornflowers, the emblems of the French who died in the last war have been flown from Paris by special aeroplane and have been distributed around the UK. Thousands of Poppies have been sent to troops serving in France and to the ships of the Royal Navy.
During the War the massed gatherings at Whitehall were considered not appropriate by the King and the Government so none took place. An announcement was published in the Shields Daily News on 11 November 1943 that the German controlled Paris radio stated that the Vichy Ministry of Interior had banned the Armistice celebrations in France. However Moroccan radio said that the French command of nation Liberation would meet today for a solemn celebration of Armistice Day.
Things returned to normal after the war and Remembrance Day services resumed and were well attended on the second Sunday in November and 11 November Armistice Day is still remembered. I know we all gather in the search room to show our respects to remember the fallen of the two world wars as well as the conflicts in Korea, Falklands War, the Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Morpeth Herald in 1951 recorded that a Polish Padre from Hartford conducted a service on Friday 1st November at Morpeth Cenotaph in remembrance of the Polish dead. The gathering then proceeded to Morpeth churchyard when candles were lit on the graves of dead comrades, relatives and friends. These services started in 1945 and has continued ever since by Polish people in Morpeth and its districts. The following day members of the Royal British Legion placed poppies on all the graves.
In 1943 the Morpeth Branch of Royal British Legion laid a wreath in the churchyard with the following inscription:-
“This wreath is placed in proud and loving memory of all service and ex servicemen buried in this churchyard.”
