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Colonies of the United Kingdom

Colonial flags in general
Coats of arms on disc or shield only
Breaking the rules: no coat of arms
Books
Influence of the British ensigns on flags' colonies

See also:

Colonies in Africa:

Colonies in America:

Falkland Islands
Calvert Arms/King's Colours
Recent use of the Red Ensign by Ontario and Manitoba
Bermuda
Tuvalu
Leeward Islands

Colonies in Asia:

Colonies in Oceania:

Colonial flags

British colonies had a suite of flags available. Nearly every one had a Blue Ensign defaced with the colony's badge. This was the state ensign. Most also had a merchant flag which was a Red Ensign defaced with the same badge. Those colonies that had royal governors had yet a third flag which was the Union Flag with the badge in the center surrounded by a wreath.

Nick Artimovich, 1996-FEB-06

It was almost always an ensign, and most often blue. The only flag that appeared to be flown nationally that was a full Union Jack with a badge was British India, which was technically not considered a colony. I think the flag of the Governor-General in each colony was the Union Jack with badge, and would fly in front of Government House, but the official flag of the colony itself would usually be an ensign.

Dipesh Navsaria, 1996-FEB-06

The official flag of a colony was the Union Jack. The Governor flew the UJ with the badge of the colony in a laurel wreath in the centre of the St. George's cross. Vessels employed by the government of the colony flew a Blue Ensign bearing the badge in the centre of the fly. A few colonies, usually self-governing ones (I think Cape Colony was one) had a Red Ensign for their merchant marine. I'm pretty sure that privilege was not extended to all colonies, most of which had to use the plain red duster. A couple of Dominions, Canda prior to 1964 and South Africa prior to 1926, used their Red Ensigns effectively as their national flag.

As a very rough rule, colonies bore a badge in a circle on their ensign, Dominions without - either their arms straight on the ensign (Canada, South Africa) or a design that was not a flag badge as such but a modification of the Ensign (Australia, New Zealand). There were exceptions - Victoria did and indeed does not has a circular background on its Blue Ensign, probably because the badge (as on the Governor's UJ) had a blue background and I suppose a circular fimbriation would have looked silly. Newfoundland had a circular badge even though it was a Dominion.

I don't think the above were the result of any hard and fast rules, it just sort of worked out that way.

The colonial badges could be the whole arms (e.g. Hong Kong), shield of arms (e.g. Falklands) crest (e.g. British North Borneo) an adaption of the arms (e.g. New South Wales) the colonial seal (e.g. Barbados) or none of the above (e.g. the Winward Islands which had a very poorly designed badge involving ships and pineapples (yes, really) at wildly varying scales.)

Roy Stilling, 1996-FEB-06

Coats of arms on disc or shield only

Another peculiarity of the British blue ensign colonial flags was that the Provinces of Canada did not use flags with their coats of arms on white discs. They used the shield only. The shield shape was a very angular five sided affair which is still used by, I believe, Alberta and Manitoba.

Breaking the rule: no coat of arms

The former flag of Tuvalu breaks the rules of the British ensigns in that there's the star-map of the islands, no arms.

Josh Fruhlinger, 1996-FEB-10

There are two rather strong precedents: Australia and New Zealand!

Roy Stilling, 1996-FEB-10

Books

There are no current sources of these illustrations, so you have to look in old book shops for treasures like Flags of the World by F.W.Warne and Co., published in England in 1893 (Hulme), 1915 (Gordon), 1933, 1939 (Wheeler-Holohan), 1953, 1956, 1961 (Carr), 1965, 1969 (Barraclough), 1971, 1979, 1981 (Crampton) (some editions were reissued and revised at various times.). All are scarce, but the 1950's editions are occasionally found and includethe greatest number of badges. You should be able to get a copy for $25 to $45 or so, depending on the mood of the dealer. By the 1961 edition, many colonies became independent, and the info on their badges was replaced by new flag data.

You might also look for the National Geographic Magazine issue of September 1934 with the flag article by Grosvenor and Showalter. It illustrates dozens of colonial badges, among hundreds of other flags. This can sometimes be picked out of a stack of Nantional Geographics for a couple of dollars, but a knowledgeable dealer can charge $15 to $20 for it.

There is also a book published by HMSO, in 1930. The cover title is Flags of All Nations but inside I think it says something to the effect of "Drawings of the flags in use at the present time by various nations.." Some of the largest city and university libraries may have it, but I have only seen copies at the Flag Research Center, and at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis. It illustrates hundreds of flags, including all the colonial badges in use at the time, approximately 50mm diameter in full color. The section on colonial badges was also published separately in 1932 as Flags, Badges, and Arms of His Majesty's Dominions Beyond the Seas and of Territories Under His Majesty's Protection but I have never seen a copy for sale, anywhere. The 1955 Admiralty flag book Flags of all Nations was published by HMSO in loose-leaf and also illustrates the badges, but it is not nearly as beautiful a book as the 1930 edition.

Nick Artimovich, 1996-FEB-06