History of the Union Jack and Flags of the EmpireCumberland, Barlow
History
History of the Union Jack and Flags of the Empire
Cumberland, Barlow
Emblems -- Great Britain; Flags -- Great Britain
It will be remembered that a change in the "additional" Jack of James
was made in the sixth year of the reign of Queen Anne, and that the
occasion of this change was coincident with the union of the separate
Parliaments of England and Scotland into one British Parliament.
It was so soon as this occurred, but not until then, that the flag in
which the two national crosses were blended was made the sole national
ensign.
It was in 1707 that this first Union Jack was created. Queen Anne was
at the time Queen of Ireland as well as Queen of England and Scotland.
She had quartered the harp of Ireland in her Royal Standard five years
previously, at the time when she had commenced her reign; yet the
Queen, when forming the new flag, did not join the cross of St. Patrick
in her Union Jack any more than had King James when forming his.
For ninety-four years longer the red cross Irish Jack continued in its
separate existence. The reign of Queen Anne had come to its close;
three more sovereigns[117] in succession had ascended the united throne
of Great Britain and Ireland, and successive changes had been made
in the emblazonings on the Royal Standard, yet in all these reigns
the Union Jack, which had been declared to be the only flag of the
realm to be worn by their subjects, and which was raised over the new
dependencies which the united valour of all three nationalities won for
the crown, contained only the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew,
representing but two of the kingdoms included under its rule (44).
[117] George I., George II., George III.
At last, in 1801, during the forty-first year of the reign of George
III., the Irish Parliament was united with the Union Parliament of
England and Scotland, and then, and not till then, was the red cross of
St. Patrick blended with the other two national crosses.
The emblem of Scotland had not been blended with that of England in one
Union Jack until their Parliaments had been united; so the emblem of
Ireland was not added to the other two until her Parliament had also
been joined with theirs. So soon, then, as the three kingdoms were
joined in union under one Parliament, for the first time the three
crosses of the three national Jacks were united in one three-crossed
Union Jack.
[Illustration: 44. FORT GEORGE AND THE PORT OF NEW YORK IN
1770.
(From an old print.)]
We thus have learned what was the necessary qualification to entitle a
national cross to be entered in the union ensign.
It needed a union of Parliaments to create a real Union Jack--a flag
in which the national crosses should each continue to retain their
national significance, and, when joined together in union, be still
accorded the same precedence which had previously attached to each when
separately displayed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account