Proud pensioner rediscovers the world’s OLDEST Remembrance poppy in existence – at an astonishing 92 years old
- Catalina Bateman, 96, was given the handmade cloth poppy by her father in 1927
- She wore the flower in her hair at a fancy dress party in Chile when she was four
- Mrs Bateman found the poppy in cupboard this month when she moved house
- Retired nurse believes the flower is ‘oldest’ Remembrance poppy ‘in the world’
Catalina Bateman, 96, has rediscovered the ‘world’s oldest’ Remembrance poppy, which she was given by her father in 1927
A proud pensioner has rediscovered a red cotton Remembrance poppy that she first wore as a four-year-old girl – and she believes it is ‘the oldest in the world’.
Catalina Bateman, 96, was given the beautiful handmade poppy by her father at a fancy dress party in Chile in 1927.
The great-grandmother then rediscovered the 92-year-old cloth flower this month when she was moving into her new apartment in Northenden, Manchester.
It had been tucked away in a cupboard, and was in remarkably good condition.
A sepia photograph shows Mrs Bateman, who was born in Punta Arenas, Chile, as a four-year-old wearing the poppy in her hair to commemorate British war heroes.
Mrs Bateman had first worn the handmade poppy at a fancy dress party in 1927. She said: ‘On Armistice Day they always had a collection to raise money, which we would send back for veterans in the UK.
‘We would hold a fancy dress party, and a lot of people would come to our community for that occasion. Poppies were all handmade in those days and sent over from England.’
Mrs Bateman added that the poppy is ‘at least’ 92 years old, and said she believes it is the ‘oldest in the world’.
A sepia photograph shows Mrs Bateman, who was born in Punta Arenas, Chile, as a four-year-old wearing the poppy in her hair at a party to commemorate British war heroes
‘There can’t be many others from that period still in existence’, she said. ‘With the poppy being made from cloth and having the Earl Haig stud in the middle, I do believe it must be the oldest in the world.’
Retired nurse Mrs Bateman said she found the cloth poppy ‘tucked away in a cupboard’ earlier this month. She said: ‘I’m amazed it’s been so well-preserved and as we’ve moved a lot over the years, and I’m amazed it’s still here’.
The first poppies were made in 1921 after a French woman, Anna Guérin, met Earl Haig, founder of the Royal British Legion, and persuaded him to adopt the poppy as an emblem for the Legion in the UK.
Mrs Bateman’s father, Bernard Buckley, was born in the Falkland Islands and worked in the cotton trade before serving in both World Wars.
The great-grandmother found the 92-year-old cloth poppy this month when she was moving into her new apartment in Northenden, Manchester
The handmade, red cloth poppy had been ‘tucked away’ in a cupboard inside her home
The great-grandmother was born in Punta Arenas in Chile after he returned after the First World War.
Her family later bought a farm and moved to Australia, but the global depression of the 1930s hit them hard, so her father borrowed money to head back to Manchester.
When war broke out again, he joined the RAF to work on barrage balloons in 1939 and served in Dunkirk.
Mrs Bateman said: ‘My father was essentially a cowboy who went over to England to volunteer for the cavalry with a group of Falkland Islanders.
Mrs Bateman’s father, Bernard Buckley, was born in the Falkland Islands and worked in the cotton trade before serving in both World Wars
‘They landed in Liverpool in 1915 and, because there had been a tremendous loss of horses in France, my father was sent straight to Lytham to break in wild horses imported from North America and Canada.
‘He was eventually wounded at the Somme, but he met my mother during the war, they were married in Manchester in 1919 and returned to Chile, so I was born in the beautiful city of Punta Arenas.’
The mother-of-two met her late husband Philip in high school, and she married him in March 1948 before he passed away in 2014.
She spent her working life as a nurse and Philip joined the Royal Navy at 18, before serving in the police force later on in life.
The red poppy has endured for almost 100 years as a symbol of both Remembrance and hope for a peaceful future.
Today, the flower is still worn as a show of support for the Armed Forces community and last year the Legion’s annual appeal sold more than 40 million poppies to raise £50 million to help support serving and ex-serving members of the Armed Forces community and their families.
Mrs Bateman said: ‘It’s just by chance that I own what is potentially the oldest poppy in the world.
‘When I found it, it was nice to link it back to the picture of my four-year-old self that hangs on my wall and it’s very historical indeed.’
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