A First World War flower which has outlived all human veterans of the conflict has sold for over £6,000 at auction. The oldest surviving poppy from the war’s battlefields went under the hammer at Duke’s auctioneers in Dorchester, Dorset, for £5,200. The total price paid was £6,200, including premiums.
The last known First World War veteran, Florence Green, died last year, aged 110.
The poppy was plucked from the frontline trenches of Arras in northern France by 17-year-old British soldier Private Cecil Roughton in 1916. He pressed it flat between the pages of his notebook before bringing it back to Britain, later presenting it to his 13-year-old neighbour Joan Banton. Pete Roughton had written on the page where the flower was kept: “Souvenir from a frontline trench near Arras. May 1916. C. Roughton 1923.” The keepsake stayed in Mrs Banton’s family and was sold by her daughter Sue Best, of Corfe Castle.
