Flag days
Queen Alexandra's flowers
As part of my thesis on charities in the First World War I looked at the origins of flag days. The most famous of these events are the poppies sold in aid of the Royal British Legion each November. They reached their peak of popularity during the War, when almost every day they were groups of young girls selling flags, and other symbols, in aid of a particular war charity.
Subsequent to this paper, which was read to the Voluntary Action History Society in April 1999 and later published by the Society, I discovered that the first flag day was probably inaugurated by the Blue Cross animal charity. The RNLI also claim they invented the occasion. We may never know who had the idea and actually ran the first event:
Who thought of the idea of flag days, or flower days as they were initially known, is unknown as is when and where they were introduced. It is possible that grew out of tokens given on Hospital Saturdays. Another charity historian, But it is clear that it was an idea whose time had come. By organising respectable young ladies to sell representations of flowers on the streets in aid of a reputable charity was a masterstroke.
The first such flag day I have been able to trace is Alexandra Rose Day held on 26 June 1912, although reports in The Times hints that it was not totally new. It was held mark the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival in Britain of Princess Alexandra of Denmark to marry Edward, Prince of Wales and later Edward VII. Queen Alexandra, in common with most members of the royal family, had a long-standing interest in charities particularly with regard to nursing and hospitals. According to Frank Prochaska however Capricious and feather-headed [Queen Alexandra] pursued charity to the point of recklessness .
The day was to be 'a royal fete organised by the ladies of Great Britain in honour of Queen Alexandra.' It however only took place in London. The plan was to station girls - 10,000 of them, dressed in white with a red-edged sash -being the national colours of Denmark with the name Alexandra upon it and a white hat adorned with roses -throughout the metropolis. Each girl was issued with a cylindrical collecting box and a basket with artificial roses which she would, in the words of The Times issue as a receipt for a donation. The cripples and blind men of Mr Green's Institution made some 10m artificial roses. It was a simple plan and one which worked staggeringly well.
The Times wrote that the most noticeable sight was the enormous number of men who wore [a rose]. In the City and West End, at any rate, nearly every second men had at least one bloom and often had two or three in one buttonhole. And noted the decorum of the transactions, which of course contrasted with the traditional view of street collections - 'the ladies as a rule refrained from pressing their roses on passers by, but a gentle or even silent appeal was enough'.
Collectors were often of noble birth. In the City, The Times recorded that 'for the first time in history ladies were permitted to enter the Baltic Exchange during business hours. Lady Michelham, Lady Alexander, and Miss Phyllis Broughton and other flower sellers were admitted and rapidly of their wares'. Further west Mrs Asquith, the wife of the Prime Minister, and Mrs Lloyd George, wife of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, sold flowers in Westminster.
In financial terms however the day was not a great success. Some £17,232 was raised, less than half than that of the Hospital Saturday Fund in the metropolis. The expenses were high, the flowers alone cost over £3000. The organisers shrugged this off, commenting that In other cities where the experiment of a flower day has been tried its introduction has been attended with great difficulties in the first year of working. In subsequent years, however, such festivals invariably produce results twice or three times as large'.
The favourable publicity quickly attracted the attention of charity organisers. A year later Alexandra Rose days were held in many provincial centres and this must have provided a useful example for local charity managers to copy. Within eighteen months of the initial Alexandra Rose day it was a good enough excuse used by the bricklayers' union when collecting for locked-out colleagues in London. The organiser told the police: We are not collecting, we are selling something for money, and have as good a right to sell tickets as others have to sell Queen Alexandra's flowers . The police attempt to prosecute the bricklayers for habitual begging under the 1824 Vagrancy Act was dismissed. It was this new element, this ticket - a worthless piece of paper - or flower which made the difference.
Why should the idea have spread so quickly? The answer may be that flag days proved very popular with the public. For the first time donors were given something in return for their donation which they could wear to show their support. Contributions were secret and all rewarded in exactly the same way so it mattered not whether a supporter had given a penny or a pound. Almost for the first time charities had come up with a fundraising scheme which appealed to all sections of society, not just the upper and middle classes. Donations as a result soared. In Birmingham a contemporary wrote: As to the efficacy of the method, it may be mentioned that in regard to a particular institution a street collection in 1914, before the handing of tokens to contributors was introduced, realised £500, but a flag day in 1917 for the same purpose provided over £1600.
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