11th April 2026 - (afternoon) Paul Baylis showing “WW1 Charities and other fundraising efforts”

Following our AGM we had a break for lunch and then we welcomed guest visitor Paul Baylis who gave a fascinating talk and display on “WW1 Charities and other fundraising efforts”.

The display was concerned with fund raising and charities which raised money for both individual and national causes. It consisted of postcards, paper lapel pins [flag days] and related ephemera.  Prior to WWI it was illegal to collect money on the street [begging] but this changed when Princess Alexandra organised ‘Rose Day’ when paper roses were sold for funds for charitable causes. It then became apparent that if an article was sold then this was allowable and not considered begging.

The collection shown by Paul started many years ago when a sheet was found at a market in Rochester holding some twenty flag-day pins and from there it progressed.  Shown were some comedy postcards followed by a series of sheets with the actual card or pin and a description of what the fund raiser was for and who or what promoted it. Among examples were various pins sold on the street for comforts for the troops, prisoners of war etc; among the more unusual ones were a pin badge for ‘Sphagnum Moss’ which was promoting the collection of moss which would then be dried and sterilised for use as a dressing for wounds. Another was postcard to provide milk for wounded soldiers in hospital in the UK whilst another sheet showed pin badges promoting the collection of eggs, again for the wounded in hospital.  One set of pins was kept on the original sheets. These were collected during the WWI period by a lady and it would be shame to split it up so it was kept as a mini-collection along with the photo of the lady concerned.  One unusual group were large versions of various flag-day pins and one can only assume that these were samples from a manufacturers sample book.  Some of the related ephemera were cuttings from newspapers at the time ‘advertising’ that a particular flag-day was coming up and asking the public to contribute to that particular cause.

Shown below is a photo of Paul Baylis standing in front of his display and three examples of pages from his display.