Agnes Morrison

Agnes Brysson Morrison CBE (1867-1934, née Inglis)[1] was a Scotswoman who is credited with inventing "flag days" when small flags or badges, usually of paper, are given in exchange for donations to charity collections.[2][3]

This article is about the charity fund-raiser. For her daughter the novelist, see Nancy Brysson Morrison.

Charitable work

Morrison's first recorded collection was in 1900 when she raised money for the Fund for Sufferers in the South African War (the Boer war).[4]

On 5 September 1914 she organised her first flag day, raising £3,800 in Scotland for Soldiers' and Sailors' Families Association one month after the start of World War I.[5] 3,600 volunteers sold small Union Jack flags, on pins, to be worn by the donors.[3][6] It has been said that she raised £25 million before the end of the war.[3] The Alexandra Rose Day had already, in 1912, raised money by the sale of artificial roses in exchange for charitable donations, so Morrison's flag day was not the first time that wearable tokens had been used in charitable collections.

A postcard was published by Maclure Macdonald &co of Glasgow, showing a portrait of Morrison surrounded by a display of flags, with the text:

SYMBOLS OF A NATION'S GENEROSITY: Representative collection of Flags, sold on various Flag Days, including specimens from Malta and Salonica, with Portrait of Mrs Arthur Morrison, the originator of the Flag-day movement - a means by which nearly £7,000,000 has been raised throughout the United Kingdome for War Charities[6]

She was the President of the Glasgow Branch of the Scottish Children's League of Pity for "many years".[4]

She was appointed CBE in 1920, cited as "Organizer of Collections for War Charities".[7]

Personal life

Morrison was born in 1867, daughter of a Glasgow lawyer.[6] She married Arthur Mackie Morrison, an engineer, and they had six children including Agnes (1903-1986), who published novels and biographies as Nancy Brysson Morrison and as Christine Strathern.[1] A source states that her husband was Lord Provost of Glasgow at the time of the 1914 collection,[4] but the post was held in 1914 by Daniel Stevenson succeeded by Thomas Dunlop. She died in 1934.[6]

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References
  1. "Morrison, Agnes Brysson Inglis [Nancy] [pseud. Christine Strathern]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/60216. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. "Charity Work". Scotland's War. University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  3. Charalambides, Tony (23 October 2014). "Fundraising in the First World War: how the fundraising ground force made a difference". Sofii: Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  4. Harris, Carol (27 June 2014). "1914-1918: How charities helped to win WW1". Third Sector. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  5. Fowler, Simon. "The Origins of Flag Days" (PDF). Voluntary Action History Society. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  6. Allen, Tony. "ww1 Penny-Flags and Flag-Days". Picture postcards from the Great War. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  7. "No. 13582". The Edinburgh Gazette. 1 April 1920. p. 905.
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