Poppies, symbols of hope and regeneration because they continued to grow on the devastated battlefields of the Western Front, were first embraced as symbols of remembrance in 1921. Earl Haig had founded the British Legion in that year because it was felt that little help was being offered to support the nearly two million wounded soldiers who returned home at the end of the First World War. The first poppy day took place on 11th November 1921, commemorating the 1918 armistice, and some nine million poppies were sold, providing funds for the newfound British Legion. Poppy Day became an annual event, associated in most people’s minds with the annual ceremony of remembrance at the Cenotaph in Whitehall and the two-minute silence at 11am.

The tradition of Poppy Day has been sustained and respected through the Second World War and subsequent conflicts. Today, an astonishing 4.5 miles of coloured paper is transformed into 30 million poppies at the British Legion factory in Aylesford, raising a substantial contribution towards the RBL’s annual fundraising income of over £147 million – last year the poppy appeal raised over £49 million. These funds are used to assist veterans with everything from housing and rehabilitation to counselling and financial and legal advice.

When poppies were first launched as a symbol of remembrance the custom was only to wear them on Remembrance Sunday itself, which is the second Sunday in November. Nowadays, poppies begin to appear in October, several weeks before Remembrance Day, although the convention is still that they should be removed after Remembrance Sunday.

Anyone living in Britain will be aware that, over the last twenty years, the poppy symbol has proliferated to an astonishing degree. Oversized poppies decorate the bonnets of buses, trains, lorries and cars; they are used to decorate public spaces, from stations to school playgrounds; they are projected on public buildings. In addition to these grand gestures, poppies have been exploited commercially, appearing on a range of merchandise from scarves, playing cards, t-shirts and baseball hats to pins, brooches and fridge magnets. Needless to say, this has nothing to do with the Royal British Legion.

Increasingly, it seems that some members of the public are seeing Poppy Day as something akin to Halloween or Christmas, a time to buy a range of poppy-themed products, festoon the house and garden with ‘seasonal’ decorations and bedeck themselves with poppy accessories. All this frivolity has nothing to do with the original intention of Poppy Day, which was to honour and commemorate the sacrifices made by members of the armed forces.

At the same time, the phenomenon of poppy shaming has ballooned, predictably assisted by social media and whipped up by a legion of trolls. It is now seen as the kiss of death for any politician, newscaster or presenter, whose face is regularly seen on our screens, to be seen without a poppy. It is also now de rigueur for entire Premier League football teams to sport embroidered poppies on their shirts. People in the public eye who do not wear poppies find themselves targeted by a tsunami of abuse and denigration and are frequently accused of a lack of respect and patriotism.

Indeed, as the poppies have proliferated, the original notions of remembrance have become increasingly subsumed into a general feeling that the poppy has become a symbol of national pride and, as such, refusing to wear a poppy is read as subversive and traitorous. This is very far from the origins of this ubiquitous symbol, and not something that the RBL encourages. They argue that choosing to wear a poppy is a purely personal choice and it is every person’s right not to participate. 

So as Remembrance Sunday approaches and poppy-sellers appear on street corners, pause for a moment to think about why you are buying and wearing a poppy and what it represents to you. Accept that this is your own choice to make, but ensure that it is a conscious act, not a kneejerk example of virtue signalling. Above all, accept that some people have chosen not to wear a poppy and respect that choice. Do not hound or nag the poppyless or wallow in self-righteousness and remember the veterans you are meant to be honouring fought to defend a democratic society where freedom of choice was protected.

Poppy Etiquette

• There is no fixed rule about when you should wear your poppy, but it is undoubtedly true that if you wear it for weeks beforehand it will lose its impact. The British Legion launched its 2024 appeal on 24 October, when it marked its centenary. Some say you should start to wear your poppy on 31 October, and ensure it is removed by Remembrance Sunday.
  
• It is conventional to wear your poppy on your left-hand lapel, or on the left-hand side of your chest, in the same place that you would wear military medals.
  
• Pin your poppy securely to your lapel – inadvertently trampling a poppy underfoot is not very respectful.
  
• Above all, if you choose to wear a poppy in November, you must remember why you are wearing it.  Sporting a poppy is certainly not about virtue-signalling, and wearing one with scant regard for its symbolism is disrespectful and pointless.