England: Mayor steps out wearing red & white poppies side by side...

England: November 2002

70 years after the first white poppy plea, the white poppy is finally sanctioned by British in public office: The Mayor of Guildford in Surrey.

Though it may only have been noticed in the local paper, it represents an historical moment in a century of poppy symbolism: Mrs. Linda Strudwick said she would be buying a white poppy, but would also be at Sandhurst for the launch of the red poppy appeal. "I think both are good ideas," she said.

"I shall be officiating at the Remembrance service but I haven't given a thought to which poppy I shall wear. I am amazed we are having this conversation at all. "The poppies jolly well ought to be reconcilable. The white poppies are for peace and the red poppies are to help victims of war. They are both peace poppies, and I am supporting both, in the same way that as mayor I am supporting lots of things this year. "If you have got a group that is working for peace and the British Legion also working towards peace, what is more appropriate than to wear both poppies?" Surrey Advertiser, England, UK

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The idea of alternative poppies dates back to 1926, when someone in the No More War Movement (UK) suggested that the British Legion should be asked to imprint 'No More War' on their poppies, and failing this that people who felt strongly on this subject should make their own flowers. The Women's Cooperative Guild UK, dating back to 1883, had spoken out strongly against the First World War and, throughout the inter-war years, began to feel that a new impetus was needed.

In 1933, several branches asked for a symbol to express their opposition to war, and the white poppy for wearing on Armistice Day, was born. The Guild stressed that the white poppy was in no way intended as an insult to those who died in the First World War but that it was a 'pledge to peace that war must not happen again'. Indeed, many of the women lost husbands, brothers, sons and lovers.

The British Legion, who produced the red poppy, was asked to produce the white poppies for the Guild but could not make the stretch; neither would they accept proceeds from sales. In the first year a Guild member, Miss Millar, improvised poppies with white paper and ribbons. In later years the white poppies were produced by the Co-operative Wholesale Society. It quickly became regarded as a radical symbol and in the end, it took courage to wear. Some even lost their jobs for wearing it. Sales of the white poppy reached their peak in 1938 when the Peace Pledge Union joined with the Guild in promoting it. In 1988, the PPU took on the promotion, again asked the British Legion to make the white poppies. The British Legion remains as ever aligned only to the red poppy..