Hidden Henley

With Remembrance Day this weekend it seems topical to remind readers that it was a local man who played a large part in the poppies that we associate with this time of the year.

Although during World War 1 so much countryside was turned into fields of mud after extensive fighting and bombing, yet despite this the Flanders poppies still managed to survive. This lead to the poppy becoming a symbol of remembrance in the years that followed.

George Howson lived at The Hyde just outside Hambleden village which itself is around four miles from Henley. Both my mother and aunt were among the team of servants who worked at this fine house, and they often referred to Major Howson founding The Poppy Factory in London in 1922 for former soldiers who had sustained life-changing injuries in the war. My photos show his plaque in Hambleden church.

On a The HYDE letterheading dated 14/5/22 – that’s 1922 not 2022 (and with the telephone number extending to just two digits) he typed a letter to his parents which included “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”. In contrast to that modesty, it was an immediate success and led in 10 years to employing 350 men and women working there producing 30 million poppies every year – and an event every November that reminds everyone of the terrible human price of war.