Poppy Factory

The Poppy Factory is a factory in Richmond, London, England, where remembrance poppies are made. It was founded in 1922 to offer employment opportunities to wounded soldiers returning from the First World War, creating remembrance products for the Royal Family and The Royal British Legion’s annual Poppy Appeal. It is operated by a company that is a registered charity which provides employment support to disabled veterans across England and Wales. The factory makes approximately 36 million poppies each year.

Lady Haig's Poppy Factory in Edinburgh was established in 1926 and makes approximately five million remembrance poppies each year.

Artificial poppies for the first poppy appeal in 1921 had been imported from France by Madame Anna Guérin, but in 1922 the Disabled Society, a charity established in 1920 by Major George Howson MC and Major Jack Cohen, received a grant of £2,000 from the British Legion's Unity Relief Fund to employ disabled ex-service personnel to make remembrance poppies in England. Later that year, Howson wrote to his parents, “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.”

They set up in a former collar factory on the Old Kent Road in London. Soon the factory was employing 50 disabled veterans. The factory made a million poppies within two months.

In November 1924, the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) visited the Poppy Factory, which made 27 million poppies that year. Most of the employees were disabled, and by then there was a long waiting list for prospective employees.

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