The origins of the Poppy Factory go back to 1922 when Major George Howson MC, a young infantry officer and engineer who served on the Western Front in the First World War, founded the Disabled Society to help disabled ex-Service men and women.

Howson suggested to the British Legion that Society members should make poppies, and the artificial flowers were designed so that someone who had lost the use of a hand could assemble them with one hand.

With a grant of just £2,000 from the Unity Relief Fund, he set up a small factory off the Old Kent Road with five ex-Servicemen.  It was here that the first poppies were made.

A copy of the letter he sent to his parents about his ideas is displayed at the Poppy Factory.

In it he says:
'I have been given a cheque for £2,000 to make poppies with. It is a large responsibility and will be very difficult. If the experiment is successful it will be the start of an industry to employ 150 men. I do not think it can be a great success, but it is worth trying. I consider the attempt ought to be made if only to give the disabled their chance.'

Within a few months the number of employees had risen to 50, providing work and an income for many disabled veterans and their families. As demand grew, the premises became too small and the Factory moved to Richmond, Surrey, near to the present Factory which was built in 1933.

The origins of the Remembrance poppy lie with two women:

Moina Bell Michael, an American teacher, was so moved by Colonel John McRae’s poem “In Flanders Field” that she bought poppies with money collected from her work colleagues and sold them to raise funds for U.S ex-Servicemen. 

In 1920 the Poppy was proclaimed as the United States’ national emblem of Remembrance.

Madame Guerin, a Frenchwoman, sold millions of poppies in 1921 throughout the US to raise funds for rehabilitation in areas of France devastated by the First World War. She also sent French women to London to sell poppies and she persuaded Earl Haig to adopt the poppy for the British Legion.

Since 1922 all poppies have come from The Poppy Factory – right up to the present day.