Pearls Before Poppies

Today I found out about a charity auction that took place at Christies, London in December 1918 called the Red Cross Pearl Appeal.

To help raise funds for WW1 war effort, Lady Northcliffe, wife of newspaper baron Alfred Harmsworth who founded The Daily Mail, launched an appeal asking women to donate a pearl from their necklaces to create a new string which would be sold to support the Red Cross.  

Donations received included Queen Alexandra, 9 duchesses, 27 countesses and a number of viscountesses.  Countess of Rothes, whose husband had been wounded in France in 1916, donated a pearl from a necklace that she had worn as a passenger on the Titanic.

Nearly 4,000 pearls were donated which was enough to make 41 necklaces.  It was decided that these necklaces would have ruby clasps which over 50 were also donated.  These necklaces were auctioned on the 19th December and raised £94,044 (£5 million today) which was used to run all the Red Cross convalescent homes in France and Belgium.