1921 - 2021: 100 Year Celebration
On Saturday 15th May the Royal British Legion Charity celebrate 100 years since its formation. In 1921 a small number of ex—Servicemen walked to the Cenotaph war memorial in London’s Whitehall; as Big Ben struck nine, four men representing societies that for three years had been rivals laid a wreath at the base of the memorial. On that wreath were the badges of the four organisation that would officially amalgamate to form the British Legion.
By Christmas of 1921 the ranks of the organisation had swelled to include 2,500 branches across the country and overseas. These were the groups around which the armed forces community rallied after the First World War.
One hundred years later the organisation is proud to still have 2,500 branches, some with a history reaching back to 1921 and others established in the last decade. Dawlish is proud to be one of the ones that was founded in 1921.
To celebrate the anniversary of the formation the Branch Committee held a small service at the War Memorial, St Gregory’s Church on Saturday 15th. We laid wreaths and held a two-minute silence as well as spoke about the formation.
All covid guidelines were adhered to.
