Primrose Day, in memory of Benjamin Disraeli 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, who died on this day in 1881.

Apparently today, April 19, is Primrose Day.  Chambers’ Book of Days (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd., 2004) informs us:

“In the late nineteenth century, 19 April was celebrated as Primrose Day in memory of Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, who died on this day in 1881 (he was born in 1804).  People were encouraged to pay tribute to the statesman, twice prime minister of the UK (1868; 1874-80), by wearing primroses on this day.  It was said that Disraeli was particularly fond of primroses, but his writings suggest the opposite.  The myth seems to have its origin in a simple misunderstanding: when Queen Victoria sent a wreath of primroses to Disraeli’s funeral with a note stating that they were ‘his favourite flower’, people assumed that the word ‘his’ referred to Disraeli, but in fact it referred to Victoria’s late husband, Prince Albert.”

Primroses in Dommett Wood on the Blackdown Hills in Somerset.

I took the above photo in The Somerset Wildlife Trust’s Nature Reserve at Dommett Wood on the edge of the Blackdown Hills not far from the A303.