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Flags with cantons

William Crampton says in [cra90] on page 102 that when Charles I reserved the 1606 Union Flag for royal use only in 1634

"English civil vessels at this time began to use the Red Ensign: a red flag with the cross of St. George on a white canton."

Before then English merchantmen had often flown the Union, and before 1606 the plain Cross of St. George.

However, there is an older English flag with a canton - the Tudor naval ensign, which was alternating green and white horizontal stripes (the livery colours of the Tudor family) with St. George in a square canton. I don't recall if there was a set number of stripes - I suspect not, but nine rings a bell. There is a reproduction of this flag displayed on the upper floor of the Victory Gallery of the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth along with a number of other flags from the Royal Navy's history.

Sorry, I don't have an exact date for this flag, but I think it's shown in illustrations of the sinking of the Mary Rose (1545) and I'm almost certain it was in use by the time of the Spanish Armada (1588).

Roy Stilling, 1996-FEB-08