BRITISH LEGION. The British Legion was established in 1921, under the late Field-Marshal Earl Haig, its first president, for the purpose of uniting in one national organization the various existing associations of ex-service men. These were the Comrades of the Great War, the National Association of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers, the National Federation of Discharged and Demobi lized Sailors and Soldiers, and the Officers' Association. In April 1925 the Legion was incorporated by royal charter.
The principles and policy of the Legion are non-political and non-sectarian, and its membership is open to all British or natural ized British men and women who have served with the forces of the Crown, including men and women of the Red Cross and similar organizations.
The activities of the Legion are administered through various departments dealing with legal and financial aid, appointments and employment, assistance of various kinds to families, including educational assistance and the after-care of children, as well as a business branch for setting up ex-service men in business. A Legion industrial village settlement has been established at Pres ton Hall, near Aylesford, Kent, where tubercular cases are re ceived. It comprises a sanatorium with park grounds and cottages covering in all 45oac., where the patients, who in some cases have their families with them, when fit to work, are taught to pursue a great variety of suitable occupations, including car pentry, printing, fibre and leather case manufacture, etc. With the aid of the National (Prince of Wales') Relief Fund, as well as through private generosity, the Legion has also acquired a factory fully equipped for the manufacture of handwoven Welsh tweeds by disabled ex-service men, and in the Ex-service Indus tries, Ltd., at Warminster, has financed another similar under taking for the manufacture of furniture.
Another of the Legion's practical activities is the poppy factory, where over 200 disabled men are employed all the year round making the "Flanders" poppies and wreaths in anticipation of the demands for Remembrance Day (Nov. I 1) . The sale of these poppies throughout the country on that day has been recognized as constituting a special appeal in aid of the funds of the Legion, and the total contribution from all sources made on "Poppy Day" is now the main source of income for its work, and in 1927 realized the sum of £513,000. The co-ordination of this and other appeals and funds, such as the United Services, the British Red Cross and others, for the relief of distress among ex-service men and their families, is made through the national executive council, Further a representative of the Legion serves on every committee in the country that has to do with pensions.
The organization of the Legion, whose headquarters are in Lon don, is based on the establishment of over 2,600 branches through out the country, as well as a number of branches abroad, including Geneva, Lima, Mexico city, etc. The branches are grouped into administrative areas, each with its own elected council, the national executive council being also elected annually at the conference of branch delegates. Through its membership of the British Empire Services League and association with the Federation Interalliee des Anciens Combattants, the British Legion also maintains its contact, and serves as a connecting link, with the other ex-service organizations of the British Dominions and allied nations in the World War.