During the recent Scottish referendum there was some discussion of whether Britain’s union flag would have to be abandoned if Scotland became independent. The answer was clearly ‘no’, as the union flag existed before the Act of Union with Scotland, pre-dating it by a hundred years. But the four hundred year-old emblem had been dispensed with once before, during the 1650s when England was designated a Commonwealth and free-state. What follows here is a discussion of the flag designs that replaced the union flag during that period.
The union flag was devised in 1606, ‘according to a form made by our Heralds’, following the crowning of James VI of Scotland as king of England. (Lister, 4) A proclamation by Charles I in 1633 referred to it as 'the Union Flagge . . . an ornament proper for Our owne ships'. (ibid.)
During this period the flag was employed only as a naval colour, and while it was 'commonly called the Union Jack' by 1676, only the term ‘union flag’ seems to have been used during the first half of the seventeenth century. (ibid, 5)
The union flag was devised in 1606, ‘according to a form made by our Heralds’, following the crowning of James VI of Scotland as king of England. (Lister, 4) A proclamation by Charles I in 1633 referred to it as 'the Union Flagge . . . an ornament proper for Our owne ships'. (ibid.)
During this period the flag was employed only as a naval colour, and while it was 'commonly called the Union Jack' by 1676, only the term ‘union flag’ seems to have been used during the first half of the seventeenth century. (ibid, 5)
When in March 1649 the office of king was abolished in England, the union flag was suddenly defunct. Scotland remained a monarchy, but there was now union of crowned head-of-state to join the two countries. The union flag was subsequently replaced by that of the Commonwealth: England’s cross of St. George in conjunction with the Irish harp of St. David, representing the two parliaments at Westminster and Dublin. As well as replacing the ‘jack’ that designated a vessel as a government ship, a similar design replaced the ‘command’ flag of the admiral, which had hitherto been the royal arms. (ibid.)
The historian John Prestwich, in his Respublica of 1787, detailed many badges and flags used by the Parliamentarians in the Civil War. Among them he noted a cavalry standard, which incorporated the Commonwealth arms surrounded by a wreath and the motto Florest Res Publica – ‘May the Commonwealth Flourish’ (Preswich, 82). Res Publica (’republic’ – literally, a thing of the people) was the official title of the Commonwealth when translated in Latin – as it often was, Latin being the language of international relations in this period (Whitelocke, vol.III, 146). Given that Prestwich remarks that there was no indication of this standard being carried by any particular cavalry unit we may take this device to be a Commonwealth battle flag flown by the commander in the field – a similar design, believed to have been an admiral’s command flag, is at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (Flagspot.net).
Further constitutional change arrived in 1654, when England was united with Scotland with a Lord Protector as head-of-state. The union discharged the Scottish people from allegiance to the Stuart monarchy, which had been persistently inciting rebellion against the English Commonwealth from north of the border (Gardiner, 98). The national flag was altered accordingly in 1657 (the year Cromwell was inaugurated as Protector in Edinburgh). The new pattern, quartered to accommodate the cross of St. Andrew, followed a pattern similar to the Stuart royal arms, with heraldic devices replaced with the national flags of the respective countries.
Absent too were the fleurs de lis, as Cromwell made no claim to the French crown (a claim the British monarchs did not give up until 1803 – 14 years after the French throne had ceased to exist!) An escutcheon at the centre of the flag stamped the flag with Cromwell’s personal arms. This Protectorship flag was also used as a command flag at sea, as the Royals arms had been. The closeness of the new flag’s design, and use, to the royal arms shows how closely Cromwell’s rule had reverted to that of a monarch, albeit one whose powers were defined and limited by a written constitution – a constitutional monarch.
The union flag, then, went through several guises during the seventeenth century, being repeatedly altered to reflect the changing political relationships between nations. But this has not been the case in more recent times. Following the Irish Rebellion of 1798 a political union was affected between Britain and Ireland, for similar reasons to that of 1654. Ireland was incorporated into the union flag, in the form of a St. Patrick's Cross, the Irish Parliament dissolved, and Ireland subsequently ruled from Westminster.
But though the union flag was altered to accommodate this, it was not subsequently changed after Ireland was granted Home Rule in 1921, nor when Ireland became an independent republic in 1949. The union flag's current design, then, is still representative of the Irish Union of 1801 and, as such, could be argued to be 200 years out of date.
Robert Hodkinson, March 2015
Sources
Flagspot.net website [online] Available at: https://flagspot.net/flags/gb-inter.html. [Accessed 27 February 2015]
Green, M. A. E. (ed.) (1875) Calendar of State Papers Domestic (Interregnum, 1649-500)
(13 vols.) London: HMSO.
Gardiner, S. R. (ed.) (1899) The Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution, 1625-1660. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Lister, D. (2014) Union Flag or Union Jack? London: The Flag Institute [online]. Available at www.flaginstitute.org. [Accessed: 27 February 2015]
McNally, M. (2009) Ireland 1649-52: Cromwell's Protestant Crusade. Oxford: Osprey.
Prestwich, J. (1787) Prestwich's Respublica. London: L. Nichols.
Whitelocke, B. (1853) Memorials of English Affairs (4 vols.) Oxford: University Press.
All images from Wikipedia.org, unless otherwise stated.
But though the union flag was altered to accommodate this, it was not subsequently changed after Ireland was granted Home Rule in 1921, nor when Ireland became an independent republic in 1949. The union flag's current design, then, is still representative of the Irish Union of 1801 and, as such, could be argued to be 200 years out of date.
Robert Hodkinson, March 2015
Sources
Flagspot.net website [online] Available at: https://flagspot.net/flags/gb-inter.html. [Accessed 27 February 2015]
Green, M. A. E. (ed.) (1875) Calendar of State Papers Domestic (Interregnum, 1649-500)
(13 vols.) London: HMSO.
Gardiner, S. R. (ed.) (1899) The Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution, 1625-1660. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Lister, D. (2014) Union Flag or Union Jack? London: The Flag Institute [online]. Available at www.flaginstitute.org. [Accessed: 27 February 2015]
McNally, M. (2009) Ireland 1649-52: Cromwell's Protestant Crusade. Oxford: Osprey.
Prestwich, J. (1787) Prestwich's Respublica. London: L. Nichols.
Whitelocke, B. (1853) Memorials of English Affairs (4 vols.) Oxford: University Press.
All images from Wikipedia.org, unless otherwise stated.