United Kingdom: ensigns

Last modified: 2006-06-17 by rob raeside
Keywords: united kingdom | union jack | civil ensign | naval ensign | naval reserve ensign | red ensign | white ensign | blue ensign | yellow ensign |
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The White Ensign:

by Martin Grieve

• The White Ensign
  • Use of White Ensign on Land
  • Construction Details
• Jacks of White Ensign
• White ensign used by yacht club
• White ensign used on HMS Trincomalee

• United Kingdom ensigns
• The Red Ensign
• The Blue Ensign
• United Kingdom
• History of British ensigns
• Lighthouse authorities
• Colonies of the United Kingdom
• Royal Navy
• Ministry of Defence and army
• Naval Flags on English Churches

Did Nelson's use of the white ensign at Trafalgar result in the use of the white ensign by the Royal Navy?

The White Ensign became the sole ensign of the Royal Navy in 1864. The use of the White Ensign by Nelson at Trafalgar may have influenced the choice, but I think was not the main reason. The Red Ensign was the obvious choice of ensign for the Royal Navy as it was the ensign of the senior squadron. However merchant ships had always used the Red Ensign, and it would not have been practical to change that. The White Ensign was next in seniority.

David Prothero, 12 September 2002

Under what circumstances can the White Ensign be flown, apart from HMS and Naval shore establishments? Particularly Merchant Navy vessels and replicas of early Naval Square Riggers not now directly associated with the RN. What qualifies these vessels to fly the White Ensign (ex RN crewmembers perhaps) and where should the ensign be worn (stern flagstaff, masthead etc.)?
Tom Robinson, 24 June 2000

My purely amateur understanding of the matter is that a British owned vessel that flies the White Ensign is committing a Statutory Offence and is liable to prosecution, unless it is operated by the Royal Navy or has a warrant to fly the White Ensign issued by the Ministry of Defence (Navy).
David Prothero, 4 July 2000

David is quite correct that only vessels of the Royal Navy or the Royal Yacht Squadron (plus the Trinity House vessel "Patricia" when escorting the Sovereign) are allowed to fly the white ensign at sea or in harbour. The question of historic warrants for restored ships is still "under consideration" but there is a great deal of reluctance in the MoD to grant such warrants.

Ships captained and officered by RNR Officers can apply for an undefaced Blue Ensign.
Graham Bartram, 4 July 2000

Members of the Royal Yacht Squadron are granted the privilege of flying the white ensign, at stern, to denote nationality, on their recreational boats.
Jose C. Alegria, 2 July 2000

Any vessel owned by the Royal Navy proper can fly the White Ensign, whether it is a commissioned warship or a un-commissioned boat (e.g. a landing craft operated by the Royal Marines). However, only a commissioned warship ("HMS") can fly the masthead pennant.
Miles Li, 16 March 2005

Use of White Ensign on Land

The Admiralty disapproved of the use of the White Ensign on land and did what they could to discourage it. (I imagine that the Ministry of Defence (Navy) take a similar view.) They were not able to prosecute anyone who did fly the White Ensign since, as Graham wrote, there are no British laws that relate specifically to the use of flags on land.

The White Ensign is used by some football fans, who write the name of the club they support along the horizontal arm of the St George's cross. I have never heard of any attempt to curtail or prohibit this.

If the authorities did want to take action against its use they could prosecute those responsible under other, more general, laws. For example: an Italian restaurant that flew the Italian Flag was prosecuted by the local authority with breach of the planning regulations on the grounds that the flag was an unauthorised advertisement. I imagine that it would also be possible under certain circumstances to charge a person or organisation that flew the White Ensign on land with misrepresentation, or acting with intent to deceive.

One ironic result of this situation is that, whilst those who possibly have no regard for the Royal Navy can use the flag almost with impunity, organisations or individuals who would like to fly the White Ensign as an indication of their support for the Navy, or of their former association with it, do not do so, since they know that it would not meet with the approval of the Navy.
David Prothero, 5 July 2000

When arranging a funeral in January 2000, I considered a white ensign on the coffin as an act of remembrance. I contacted the Admiralty in London where I was referred to the Flag Lieutenant in the First Sea Lords Office. He referred me to the Portsmouth Naval Base which deals with requests for buglers flags, honour guards, etc. I discovered the ensign is not officially used at funerals but some people do use it anyway.
Hugh Watkins, 6 July 2000

The British command flag of an 18thC Admiral of the White was usually St George's Cross, flown at the relevant mast truck (main, fore, mizzen, for Admiral, Vice-Admiral, Rear-Admiral), as Nelson's as Vice-Admiral of the White at Trafalgar; that for an Admiral of the Fleet or acting Admiral of the Fleet was the Union at the main, with red Ensign at the mizzen or flagstaff (as Howe's at the Glorious First of June, 1794).
Roger Marsh, 31 December 2001

The White Ensign is for the exclusive use of the Royal Navy, and for private citizens to fly it on land is inappropriate, and on sea definitely illegal.
Miles Li, 22 May 2003

It certainly is subject to controls on land. It flies at RN shore bases (technically commissioned warships in their own right) and at the Cenotaph. The Royal Yacht Squadron can also use it. The reason that I know that it is subject to quite stringent controls is what happened around Trafalgar Day this year. See this page on the MOD site: Royal Navy encourages all to 'Fly the Flag'.
David Newton, 10 November 2005

Although we would rather people didn't fly a White Ensign on land without authorization, the plain truth is that if they choose to do so there is nothing we can do about it. They are not breaking any laws. They don't even need "advertising consent" because the White Ensign is a national flag under our advertising rules. Some locations are authorized, such as RN bases, St Martin's in the Field (the RN's church), and a couple of others.

For the 200th Anniversary of Trafalgar the First Sea Lord (head of the RN) actually asked everyone to fly White Ensigns, and Her Majesty graciously gave her permission for Government buildings to fly the White Ensign over the weekend. We also had several private buildings in strategic locations fly White Ensign to dress the scene, this included buildings near St Paul's, where the memorial service was held, and in Trafalgar Square, where the special show was held. The New Zealand and Australian High Commissions flew their own White Ensigns for the occasion. The RAF church, St Clement's Dane, also flew a White Ensign in addition to their RAF Ensign. We had a huge White Ensign flying from the Canadian Flagpole in Jubilee Gardens, next to the London Eye. Even Downing Street was flying a White Ensign.
Graham Bartram, 10 November 2005

Was the white ensign the normal colour for RN Naval Brigades? - Mike "Botch" Blake, 21 November 2005

I've had a look in what I've got to hand at the moment, namely:

• Brooks, R., 'The long arm of Empire: naval brigades from the Crimea to the Boxer Rebellion' (Constable, 1999)
• 'Oxford illustrated history of the Royal Navy' (Oxford University Press, 1995)
• Trotter, W.P., 'The Royal Navy in old photographs' (Purcell, 1975)
• White, C. 'The end of the sailing Navy' (Mason, 1981)
• White, C., 'The heyday of steam', (Mason, 1983)

1. they had flags, but did not think they were worth photographing, perhaps since they were just drawn from the ship's flag locker, and would be returned there when the brigade rejoined the ship
2. they only had flags at the discretion of the Senior Naval Officer, and it just so happens that all the ones illustrated didn't have flags
3. naval brigades did not, as a rule, carry flags (yet they obviously did at the end of the 18th century, because the Spanish captured a union jack with 'Emerald' across the horizontal arm at Tenerife in 1797). The more intensive landing party training given to the Victorian matelot appears to have emphasised skirmishing rather than fighting in line, so perhaps, like rifle regiments, flags were considered a useless impediment.

White Ensign Construction Details

by Martin Grieve

Before I tackled the white ensign of the TS WNTS recently, I decided it was time to take a closer look at the Royal Navy white ensign on it's own, and in particular the construction details of this famous flag. I drew my version from description by Graham Bartram on fotw. White panels are 13x28 with the St George's cross 4 units wide, and this is where the problem comes in - Union Jack is no longer and mathematically cannot be in the "usual" ratio of 1:2. So, now I decided to look at UJ specs, and decided that the width of the red St George is 1/10th the length of the UJ with the white fimbriations adjacently on each side of this being exactly 1/3rd of this figure.

I then drew up the diagonals in accordance with Flaggenbuch (1939), St Patrick Saltire width=width of white fimbriation, this figure being 1/3rd the width of St Andrew's Saltire. This results in some "ugly" dimension figures to 6 decimal places, which I decided to round-off for aesthetic purposes on my construction sheet. The result of course would be, and is, a slightly elongated Union, as Graham pointed out.

Incidentally, in Christian Fogd Pedersen's book "The International Flag Book in Colour" (1970 edition), the ratio given goes like this :
length---8-1-8 width--4-1-4 (St George=1 unit) which means that the overall ratio is 9:17! (obviously to get a "perfect" Union at 1:2 in the canton - dubious.) The same problem occurs in South African Naval Ensign, but they get around the problem here simply by "stretching" the horizontal stripes and thus keeping the triangle at the hoist in canton intact.

Martin Grieve, 19 November 2003

Neubecker (Flaggenbuch (1939)) also obviously used an official source and based his figures on an overall flag size of 900x1800 (which is the smallest unit size using whole numbers that can be achieved). The exact figures are: for the hoist 390-120-390, for the length 840-120-840, and for the UJ: for the hoist 130-26-78-26-130, for the length 340-26-78-26-340, and for the saltire (white) 39, (red) 26, (fimbriation) 13. Once again the Flaggenbuch has proved correct, and I would have saved myself an awful lot of calculation if I'd consulted it before drawing up my own spec some time ago.
Christopher Southworth, 19 November 2003

The truth is that I did not have a scan of white ensign from Flaggenbuch (1939) to work with, and when I mentioned this book, I was referring to the construction of the Union Jack proper (which I do have a scan of) the width of St George being 1/10th length of UJ, which as you have correctly pointed out, is different when placed on white ensign.
Martin Grieve, 20 November 2003

What size were the Ensign and Jack on ships like the HMS Victory?
I can give you the sizes for a first rate in the establishment of 1822:- Ensigns of 26, 16 and 10 breadths (of 9" per breadth) or in round figures 20' x 40', 12' x 24' and 7' 6" x 15', jacks of 10 breadths and pennants 24 yards (21.9 metres) in length. It is, however, entirely possible that (whilst the sizes of ships had increased) the sizes of flags had lessened between 1805 and 1822? An ensign reputedly flown by HMS Brunswick (which as far as I can find out was not a first rate) at the battle of the Glorious First of June 1794 measures 20' x 40' (6.1m x 12.2m), and the largest size of ensign in the establishment of 1742 was about 28' x 51'?

By this period the jack was only worn at anchor, and I would suggest that the largest size of ensign was flown in battle, the middle in harbour and the smaller in stormy conditions (but I am not sure).
Christopher Southworth, 23 November 2004

Going by contemporary paintings, the ensign was about the same length as the mizzen topgallant yard. The width of the ensign was about 3/5ths of the length. Ships were also issued with a smaller storm flag; Red Ensign only. The jack, normally flown only in harbour, was about 1/3rd to 1/4th the size of the ensign.
David Prothero, 24 November 2004

Jacks of White Ensign

Some of the flags which have been used as jacks in conjunction with the White Ensign:

• Australia Blue Ensign. 1911 - 1967
• Canada Blue Ensign. 1911 - 1965
• Ceylon Blue Ensign. 1943 - 1948
• Ceylon National Flag. 1948 - 1955
• Royal East African Navy Blue Ensign. 1957 - 1962
• Hong Kong Blue Ensign. 1940 - 1967
• India Blue Ensign. 1928 - 1947
• National Flag of India. 1947 - 1950
• Mauritius Blue Ensign. 1948 - 1963(?)
• New Zealand Blue Ensign. 1914(?) - 1968
• Nigeria Blue Ensign. 1942 - 1960
• National Flag of Nigeria(?) 1960 - 1963(?)
• National Flag of Pakistan. 1947 - 1956
• Singapore Blue Ensign. 1952 - 1963
• Union of South Africa Flag. 1940 - 1946
• Straits Settlements Blue Ensign. 1941 - 1942.
  
  The White Ensign was also flown by volunteer forces in Burma, Fiji, Gambia, Gold Coast, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanganyika and Trinidad but I do not know what jack, if any, was used.

David Prothero, 2 January 2004

White ensign used by yacht club

• Royal Yacht Squadron, Castle Cowes

Source: The Navy List (2005) (p. 234) 

White ensign used on HMS Trincomalee

An unusual version of the White Ensign was shown on BBC Television in the North East and Cumbria today. There was an item about the restoration and re-launch of HMS Trincomalee, a former Royal Navy frigate originally launched in 1874. The report claimed that she was the oldest British ship still actually afloat, as both HMS Victory and the clipper Cutty Sark are both in special drydocks.

The report showed a depiction of the Trincomalee's flag as flown from her stern. This was a standard White Ensign, but the three blank quarters of the flag had been defaced by what appeared to be a black stencil of Trincomalee under full sail in black. As the ship is no longer in commission and belongs to a private trust which paid for its restoration, I do not think that Trincomalee is entitled to fly the WE in any shape, and certainly not in a defaced form. The directors of the trust which own and refitted Trincomalee have announced that they plan to enter her in various Tall Ship races and to have her as a working vessel again insofar as this is possible. In this case I would have thought that Trincomalee should fly the Red Ensign and not the White.
Ron Lahav, 14 November 2005