The RBL was founded on Sunday, May 15, 1921 – a wet and dreary day – when a small number of ex-servicemen walked to the Cenotaph war memorial in London’s Whitehall.

And the centenary was marked by branches around West Somerset on Saturday.

On May 15 1921, as Big Ben struck nine, four men representing societies that for three years had been rivals, laid wreaths at the base of the memorial. On that wreath were the badges of the four organisations that would officially amalgamate to form the British Legion.

By Christmas 1921, there were 2,500 branches across the country and overseas and it is now the UK’s largest armed forces charity, raising funds through the famous Poppy Appeal.