Charity flag, flagday emblem

World War I charity lapel flag with fastening pin sold to raise funds for the Kensington War Hospital Supply Depot for the Wounded. The lithographed flag day emblem depicts the head and shoulders of a wounded soldier dressed in the distinctive blue uniform worn by all soldiers wounded and disabled in World War I, often referred to as 'Convalescent Blues' and the charity's initials 'KWHSD'. On the reverse is printed 'KWHSD making and despatching hospital requisites We make and despatch 45,000 hospital requisites per week helping 950 hospitals money, workers, help wanted 13 Kensington Square.' The flag was purchased by Ernest King from a street collector raising funds for the charity on 27th June 1917.

By 1917 the Kensington War Hospital Supply Depot was producing and supplying up to 45,000 articles weekly for the benefit of injured servicemen. Several thousand male and female volunteers based in a number of houses around Kensington Square were engaged in the production of every kind of surgical and hospital appliance from swabs and dressings through to shrapnel pads, pneumonia jackets, splints and crutches, leg irons and walking calipers as well as the preparation of clothing, bedding, bed cradles and cushions. In the carpentry, blacksmith and metal workshops amateur craftsmen worked with war surgeons to develop new forms of surgical appliance, improve the design of frames, crutches and splints and create individual plaster casts of limbs. The charity raised funds from street collections and individual benefactors but also relied on donations from manufacturers, drapers and timber merchants for supplies of wood, sheet metal, and fabrics.
The depiction of soldiers wearing 'Convalescent Blues' was often seen on flag day emblems to encourage donations and patriotic support for wounded soldiers.