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United Kingdom

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

by Zeljko Heimer 13-FEB-1996

History of the flag

When King James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne, thereby becoming James I of England, the national flags of England and Scotland on land continued to be, respectively, the red St George's cross and the white St Andrew's cross.

Confusion arose, however, as to what flag would be appropriate at sea. On 12 April 1606 a proclamation was issued:

"All our subjects in this our isle and kingdom of Great Britain and the members thereof, shall bear in their main top the red cross commonly called St George's Cross and the white cross commonly called St. Andrew's Cross joined together according to a form made by our heralds and sent to our Admiral to be published to our said subjects."

This is the first known reference to the Union Flag. Although the original design referred to has been lost, it is presumed that it was the flag which, with the addition of the "St Patrick's" cross, forms the basic design of the British Union Flag today.

by Vincent Morley

It is also interesting to note that the new flag was not universally popular nor accepted. The English were not over pleased at the obscuring of the white field of the St George's flag. The Scots, with more justification, were upset at the fact that the red cross was lain over the white. The Scots proposed a number of alternative designs. These included:

The St George's flag with the St Andrew's flag in the canton
The St George's flag with a St Andrew's flag in each quarter. In this bizarre design the white cross of the St Andrew's flag does not extend to the corners of the flag.
The St George's flag with a St Andrew's flag in the centre

None of these are very convincing designs and none were ever used. The Scots did, however, use an ingenious design in which the white cross of the St Andrew's flag was brought forward to overlay the red cross. This flag even seems to have achieved some limited official sanction. When the king visited Dumfries in 1618 he was hailed as the king under whose banner "the whyte and reid croces are so proportionablie interlaced." The word interlaced is held to be significant as it implies the use of the 'Scottish' version of the Union Flag:

by Stuart A. Notholt 4-MAY-1996

As late as 1693, Slezer, Captain of Artillery and Surveyor-General of Stores and Magazines in Scotland, produced an engraving on Edinburgh Castle in which the 'Scottish' version is shown: again, an implication of actual use.
Source: Paul Harris (ed.), Story of Scotland's Flag, Lang Syne Publishers Ltd, 1992. Available from the Flag Research Center.

Stuart A. Notholt, 4-MAY-1996

According to Whitney Smith's book on flags, merchant ships from 1606-1634 flew the Union Jack (minus the cross of St. Patrick of course) on the foremast and the flag of England (Cross of St. George) on the jack staff. He gives four possible positions for flags, going from fore to aft on the ship they are: jack staff, foremast, mainmast, ensign staff.

Before 1606 they flew the flag of England from both the foremast and the jack staff.
From 1634-1707 they flew the flag of England from the jack staff and a version of the Red Ensign (with the cross of St. George in the canton instead of the entire Union Jack) from the ensign staff.
From 1707-1801 they flew the flag of England from the jack staff and the Red Ensign from the ensign staff.
From 1801 onward they flew the Union Jack with a white border from the foremast and the Red Ensign from the ensign staff.

Nathan Augustine, 23-AUG-1995

Design of the flag

In Barraclough's Flags of the World I found the next text:
"The new [1801] Union Flag was described heraldically as follows: 'the crosses Saltire of St Andrew and St Patrick Quarterly, per Saltire counterchanged Argent and Gules;..."

Mark Sensen, 22-SEP-1995

The Union Jack has the white, red and white of the saltire ("X") in a ratio of approximately 1:5:6. On the cross ("+") the red is much wider than the white edging - ratio 2:6:2.

James Dignan, 26-SEP-1995

This makes sense, for the white in the saltire serves two roles: on the wider side, it is the cross of St. Andrew, i.e. Scotland. On the narrow side, it is a fimbriation of the cross of St. Patrick, to prevent GULES (red) touching AZURE (blue). Accordingly, the blue-white boundary of the fimbriation should definitely not line up with the wide white in the diagonally opposite corner, since the fimbriation is of the red, and so does not extend into it, but into the blue field. I.E. where the white is a fimbriation, it lies in territory that would normally be the field.
Note: I am just restating here what I heard a few weeks ago, when someone mentioned that the RN and the Army show the fimbriations differently (i.e. one of them has it encroaching into the red), and implied that having the fimbriation on the blue was correct.

Robert M. J. Czernkowski, 26-SEP-1995

According to Barraclough's Flags of the World, it's not clear whether the white fimbriation should be taken from the blue background or from the crosses. In the first case the red is wider than in the second case.

Mark Sensen, 25-SEP-1995

Why is the St. Patrick's cross not centered on the St. Andrew's cross? Not only is it not centered, but on opposite sides of the gap created by the St. George's cross, it is off-centered in different directions. In each of the four arms of the diagonal cross, the red line is always shifted to the "counterclockwise" for lack of a better term.

Josh Fruhlinger, 19-NOV-1995

Because:
If the St Pat's was centered on the St Andy's, then it would look like Andy is just a fimbriation for Pat. in reality, they are equal, and so you will note that the thin white stripe next to the Pat is a fimbriation, whereas Andy of course needs no fimbriation. Accordingly, you should see that Pat's fimbriation on one side does not line up with the white in the opposite quarter of the flag since Andy, being white, needs no fimbriation, and so where a fimbriation might be, there is blue; so the fimbriation is said to be taken out of the blue for Pat.

Of course, all of this would be well and good, except that I recall someone mentioning that the RN takes the fimbriation out of the red, and so Pat's fimbriation in that version lines up with the edge of Andy in the other corner of the flag.

Well, Ok, why the anticlockwise attitude of Pat vis-a-vis Andy? Because Andy, representing Scotland, the older member of the UK, comes before Pat for Ireland, a younger addition. And so Andy is first when we start in the canton and move downwards.

Robert M. J. Czernkowsky, 20-NOV-1995

That too, but the main reason for the fimbriation is that St George's cross is defined not simply as red, but as red on white. If it were red on blue it wouldn't be St George's cross.

Anton Sherwood, 21-NOV-1995

Use of the flag

The "Union Jack" isn't even the national flag for use by HM's loyal subjects in England. There is no official national flag of the UK. The Union Flag is the flag of the United Kingdoms, not of "the nation." The government has made it clear that there it has no objection to HM's subjects flying the Union Flag on land, but a shipowner can get hauled into Admiralty court for using it aboard ship.

Nick Artimovich, 7-FEB-1996

Whilst the Union Flag has never been officially adopted by law as the national flag of the UK, it has become so by usage (which can count for a lot in the British constitutional / legal system) And as you say the Government has stated it is the correct flag for use by British citizens.

Afloat though, the Union Flag has been reserved by the government for specific, military purposes. It is the official Jack of the Royal Navy (strictly speaking the only time it should be called the Union Jack - but again usage differs) and it is the flag of rank for an Admiral of the Fleet. These are the reasons why it is illegal for a civilian ship to fly it. Similarly civilian ships may not fly the English Cross of St. George, as that is the flag of an Admiral. As far as I know, the Cross of St Andrew and the Red Dragon flag have no military significance so the Scots and Welsh ought to be able to fly their national flags afloat.

By the way, the Flag Institute has published a draft of a Flag Act which would confirm in law the Union Jack's status as our national flag and lay down legal specifications and provide for a usage code. They are lobbying the government to put it before Parliament in time for the bicentenary of the United Kingdom and the current Union Jack in 2001.

Roy Stilling, 8-FEB-1996

Technically, the civil flags of England, Scotland and Wales are the St Georges, St Andrews and Welsh dragon flags respectively, although it's arguable that in Wales, being a Principality of England, the St George's flag should take precedence.

Stuart Notholt, 11-FEB-1996