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Red, White and Blue Ensigns

The Red Ensign:

by Vincent Morley

The White Ensign:

by Vincent Morley

The Blue Ensign:

by Vincent Morley

History of the ensigns
International influence of British ensigns
Light-blue ensigns

See also:

History of the ensigns

In origin there were three naval squadrons, of the Red, White and Blue, and they took these colours from those of the Union Jack. The division was made in the 1680s IIRC. Because the Red Ensigns of England and Scotland had already been established as merchant flags a Red Ensign with the Union in the canton became the merchant flag of Great Britain upon Union in 1707. This led to potential confusion - was that ship a merchantman or a member of the Red Squadron?

In 1864 it was decided to end this anomaly. Henceforth the White Ensign was reserved to the Royal Navy, the Blue Ensign undefaced to the Royal Naval Reserve and defaced with the appropriate departmental or teritorial badge to government service, and the Red Ensign to the "Merchant Navy" (as the term is in Britain).

Now, as colonies became dominions they began to acquire navies. These all wore the White Ensign, but wore their appropriate territorial Blue ensign as a jack. The only geographical usage of the Red White and Blue that I know of, and which might be the source of this idea, was in the masthead pennant. Before 1864 this was St. George's Cross in them hoist and a fly of the Squadronal colour. After 1864 the home Royal Navy used the white pennant and colonial naval units used the blue. The red pennant was used briefly by the Royal Indian Marine between 1921 and 1928.

Source: H. Gresham Carr Flags of the World, 1961, pp 121-8.

Roy Stilling, 6-JUL-1996

Am I right in thinking that the British Lighthouse service flag is the only flag using the "Old Union Jack" (with no red saltire) as a canton?

James Dignan, 18-DEC-1995

From memory, and possibly this is is no longer true, but I think the answer is yes. Except that there is no such thing as a "British Lighthouse Service" - the one you're thinking of is the Commissioners of Northern Lights, the lighthouse authority of Scotland. According to my trusty Whitaker's it was founded in 1786, which might explain its anachronistic usage. I have, I think, seen illustrations of two flags for this authority. One is a Blue Ensign with a white lighthouse in the fly, the other is a White Ensign with a blue lighthouse. Both had the pre-1801 Union Jack in the canton, but I can't remember the significance of the different fields.

Roy Stilling, 18-DEC-1995

The Ionian Islands, which had been part of the Venetian empire, used a red flag with a gold winged lion and the Union Jack in the canton whilst they were a British protectorate (1815-1867), i.e. before the institution of colonial Red Ensigns (only legal since 1864, and none instituted until the 1870s IIRC)

Roy Stilling, 13-MAY-1996

International influence of British ensigns

Unless otherwise stated (a) the relevant national flag appears in the canton, and (b) the term 'white ensign' means a flag with a red St. George's cross.

Antigua: Civil ensign; possibly defunct: Standard British red ensign
Australia: War ensign, State ensign, Civil ensign: War ensign: British Union flag in canton; white field with blue southern cross and 8-pointed Australian star.; State Esign, Civil Ensign: As above, but with white stars on a red field.
Bahamas: Civil Ensign: Civil Ensign: Red field with white cross.; War Ensign: White ensign
Bangladesh: Civil ensign: Red ensign
Belize: War ensign,State ensign,Civil ensign probably defunct: War ensign, State ensign: British union flag in canton on blue field with state arms on a white disc.; Civil ensign: Standard British red ensign
Brunei Darussalam: War ensign: White field with blue cross
Fiji Islands: Civil ensign,State ensign,War ensign; current status unknown: Fiji uses the British red, blue and white ensigns (the latter without the St George's cross) as its civil, state and war ensigns respectively, with the addition of the state shield.
Ghana: Civil ensign,War ensign: Red and white ensigns
India: War ensign,Civil ensign,State ensign: War ensign,Civil ensign: White and red ensigns respectively.; Civil ensign: Blue field with yellow anchor, on its side
Jamaica: War ensign: White ensign
Jordan: War ensign: White ensign, without cross but with a black anchor emblem
Kenya: Civil ensign: Plain white field on which there is a red anchor
Republic of Korea: War ensign: National flag in canton modified with addition of crossed black anchors behind 'yin/yang' symbol instead of the four black 'kwae' marks. On a blue field. British influenced design?
Malaysia: War ensign, Royal flag: War ensign has plain white field with blue anchor design.; Royal flag has plain red field.
Mauritius: State ensign, Civil ensign: Red and blue ensigns, defaced with addition of state arms, the former in a white disc.
New Zealand: Civil ensign, War ensign, State ensign: Red, white and blue ensigns respectively, defaced with addition of white, red and red-with-white-outlined stars of the southern cross. The State ensign is the same as the national flag on land. The white ensign does not have a St. George's cross.
Nigeria: War ensign: White ensign
Pakistan: Civil ensign,State ensign: Red ensign used for both purposes. The war ensign is a variant of the national flag, but with different proportions
Saint Kitts and Nevis: Civil ensign, probably defunct: British red ensign
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: Civil ensign, State ensign, War ensign probably defunct since introduction of new national flag in 1979: The colonial blue ensign, defaced with a modified version of the state arms on a disc was official for all purposes at sea.
Samoa: Civil ensign, State ensign: Blue canton on which there is a representation of the southern cross on white. Red field. Used for official purposes at sea (Is the national flag on land as well).
Singapore: State ensign, War ensign: Blue and white ensigns respectively, the white ensign being minus the St. George's cross. The canton is the stars on red background from the top hoist of the national flag on land - a sort of canton of a canton? Both flags are defaced with the addition of a red and white 8-pointed star design
Solomon Islands: Civil ensign, State ensign, War ensign: Red, blue and white ensigns respectively. A 'pure' adoption of the British pattern.
South Africa: War ensign, presumably defunct or superceded since introduction of new national flag: White ensign, with green cross instead of red,
Trinidad and Tobago: War ensign: White ensign
Tuvalu: Civil ensign,State ensign; presumably defunct since introduction of new national flag: The State ensign and Civil ensign were the same as the (old) national flag, itself a derivative of the blue ensign.
United Kingdom: Civil ensign,State ensign,War ensign: The three ensigns were originally the flags of the three squadrons of the Royal Navy. This system was reformed in c1830, with only the white ensign being retained for the Royal Navy.

Stuart Notholt, 9-FEB-1996

Light-blue ensigns

The Fiji Islands and Tuvalu use currently a light blue ensign. The only other use of light blue on a British colonial pattern flag was by Southern Rhodesia. I have heard that this was because the sun faded the dark blue to light but I'm not convinced by this explanation.

Stuart Notholt, 9-FEB-1996

The RAF flag is also based on the light-blue ensign.

Giuseppe Bottasini 10-OCT-1997