Another £2,730 needed for memorial stone for founder of Poppy Factory

AN appeal has been launched to raise funds for a memorial stone for the founder of the Poppy Factory.

St Mary the Virgin Church in Hambleden needs £4,000 to install a tribute to Major George Howson MC, who opened the factory which makes remembrance wreaths, in 1922.

The church has already raised £1,270 but wants to reach its target in time for the plaque can be completed and installed before Remembrance Day in November.

Maj Howson, who lived at The Hyde, just outside the village, died in 1936 and is buried in the cemetery at Pheasants Hill.

Rev Sue Morton, associate priest at the church, said: “He was a very humble person and compassionate man who wanted to help disabled men after the war. So many people don’t realise he was from this village. A member of the congregation suggested it would be nice to have something in the church to show this link. It’s a really interesting connection.”

Maj Howson founded the factory after the Disabled Society, a charity he had established in 1919 with Major Jack Cohen, received a grant of £2,000 from the British Legion to employ disabled ex-servicemen to make remembrance poppies. The factory was first set up in Old Kent Road in London and by 1931 was producing nearly 30 million poppies a year. It later moved to Richmond. Today, the factory is the country’s leading employment charity for wounded, injured and sick veterans with health conditions or impairments.

Rev Morton said: “He set up this amazing thing in such a short space of time and provided accommodation for these men and their families. He really wanted to restore confidence in these men who were traumatised and battle-scarred after the war.

“The wonderful thing is that he wrote to his parents before he set up the factory. saying: ‘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 thought that was so humble. It was his compassion that would have shone through.” Maj Howson had previously served on the Western Front throughout the First World War from 1914 to 1918.

He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions during the Battle of Passchendaele on July 31, 1917 when, despite being injured by shrapnel, he encouraged his unit to continue repairing a road under shellfire. Each year on the anniversary of Maj Howson’s death a wreath is laid at his grave by members of the Poppy Factory.

Rev Morton said: “I found out someone comes all the way from Richmond to lay a wreath. We have started meeting them there and invite members of the church along and say a prayer and a blessing.

“It’s a really interesting gravestone with a poppy carved into it. At the bottom, it says the words FULFILMENT as if to say he had achieved his life’s work.”

Account name: Hambleden Parochial Church Council; Account number: 80438812; Sort code: 20 39 53; Ref: Howson.