The purple poppy is a symbol of remembrance in the United Kingdom for animals that served during wartime. The symbol was created in 2006 based on the principle of the traditional red remembrance poppy for Remembrance Day.

In contemporary service, most animals in the United Kingdom military service are military working dogs, particularly in the 1st Military Working Dog Regiment. Historically, the greatest number of animal casualties in conflict have been horses and mules.

The purple poppy was created in 2006 by the charity Animal Aid as a way to commemorate animals that served during conflicts, as the charity viewed that they had been the forgotten victims of war.

Approximately eight million horses and mules died during the First World War. It was created to be worn alongside red or white poppies. Animal Aid continued to sell the purple poppy with proceeds going to them until 2015 when they replaced the symbol with an enamel purple paw badge as they felt it was being misinterpreted — the animals are not “heroes” but victims. The purple poppy symbol was subsequently picked up by the Murphy’s Army charity in 2016 and continued to be sold by them.

There is a specified purple poppy day in addition to Remembrance Day on 11 November, where purple poppies would be worn. The date is movable, however. In 2018, to commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War, 23 August was designated as Purple Poppy Day, coinciding with the Battle of Mons. This was the date of the first battle between British and German forces during the First World War.

It’s worth mentioning that In 1930, Mrs Dorothy Brooke, the wife of a British army major general and the founder of Brooke Hospital for Animals in Egypt, was horrified to see hundreds of emaciated WW1 horses being used in the streets of Cairo. She wrote a letter to the Morning Post – which later became the Daily Telegraph – exposing their plight. Within 3 years, Dorothy Brooke had set up a committee and bought 5000 of these ex-warhorses.

In 1934, Dorothy Brooke founded the ‘Old War Horse Memorial Hospital’ in Cairo, with the promise of free veterinary care for all the city’s working horses and donkeys and the Brooke Hospital for Animals was born. From humble beginnings, the Brooke has become the leading international animal welfare charity for working equines.