Union Jack
The Union Jack or Union Flag is the national flag of the United Kingdom.
The flag consists of the red cross of Saint George, edged in white, superimposed on the red saltire of Saint Patrick, also edged in white, superimposed on the saltire of Saint Andrew. Wales is not represented in the flag because the earlier flag of Great Britain was designed while Wales was part of the Kingdom of England.
The origins of the flag date to the earlier flag of Great Britain which was established in 1606 by a proclamation of King James VI and I of Scotland and England. The present design was established by an order in council following the Act of Union 1800, which joined the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was unchanged following the secession of the Irish Free State in 1922.
It is sometimes asserted that the term Union Jack properly refers only to naval usage, but this assertion was dismissed by the Flag Institute in 2013 after historical investigations.
The flags of British Overseas Territories, as well as certain sovereign states and regions that were previously British possessions, incorporate the Union Jack into their own flag designs or have official flags that are derived from the Union Jack. Many of these flags are blue or red ensigns with the Union Jack in the canton and defaced with the distinguishing arms of the territory. The governors of British Overseas Territories and the Australian states also have personal standards that incorporate the Union Jack in their design. In Australia, the 'right or privilege' of a person to fly the Union Jack is protected under Australian statute law. The flag continues to have official status in Canada, by parliamentary resolution, where it is also known as the Royal Union Flag.
Terminology
The terms Union Jack and Union Flag are both used historically for describing the national flag of the United Kingdom.Initially, the flag was termed the 'British flag' or 'flag of Britain', and the term 'Union' first appeared in 1625. The etymology of jack in the context of flagstaffs reaches back to Middle German. The suffix -kin was used in Middle Dutch and Middle German as a diminutive. Examples occur in both Chaucer and Langland though the form is unknown in Old English. John is a common male forename, appearing in Dutch as Jan. Both languages use it as a generic form for a man in general. The two were combined in the Middle Dutch Janke, whence Middle French Jakke and Middle English Jack. Jack came to be used to identify all manner of particularly small objects or small versions of larger ones. The Oxford English Dictionary has definition III.21 "Something insignificant, or smaller than the normal size" and gives examples from 1530 to 2014 of this usage. Further examples in the compounds section at 2b illustrate this. The original maritime flag use of jack was "A ship's flag of a smaller size than the ensign, used at sea as a signal, or as an identifying device". The jack was flown in the bows or from the head of the spritsail mast to indicate the vessel's nationality: "You are alsoe for this present service to keepe in yor Jack at yor Boultspritt end and yor Pendant and yor Ordinance" The Union Flag when instantiated as a small jack became known as the "Union Jack" and this later term transferred to more general usage of the Union Flag.
Also later a short flagpole was placed in the bows of a ship to fly the jack, this became known as the jackstaff.
According to the Flag Institute, a membership-run vexillological charity, "the national flag of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories is the Union Flag, which may also be called the Union Jack." The institute has also stated: Notwithstanding Their Lordships' circular of 1902, by 1913 the Admiralty described the "Union Flag" and added in a footnote that "A Jack is a Flag to be flown only on the 'Jack' Staff".
However, the authoritative A Complete Guide to Heraldry published in 1909 by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies uses the term "Union Jack".
The term "Union Flag" is used in King Charles I's 1634 proclamation:
and in King George III's proclamation of 1 January 1801 concerning the arms and flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland:
When the first flag representing Britain was introduced on the proclamation of King James I in 1606, it became known simply as the "British flag" or the "flag of Britain". The royal proclamation gave no distinctive name to the new flag. At the funeral of King James in 1625 the flag was called the "Banner of the Union of the two Crosses of England and Scotland". The word jack was in use before 1600 to describe the maritime bow flag. By 1627 a small Union Jack was commonly flown in this position. One theory goes that for some years it would have been called simply the "Jack", or "Jack flag", or the "King's Jack", but by 1674, while formally referred to as "His Majesty's Jack", it was commonly called the "Union Jack", and this was officially acknowledged.
A proclamation issued by King George III at the time of the Union of 1801 concerned flags at sea and repeatedly referred to "Ensigns, Flags, Jacks, and Pendants" and forbade merchant vessels from wearing "Our Jack, commonly called the Union Jack" nor any pendants or colours used by the King's ships. Reinforcing the distinction the King's proclamation of the same day concerning the arms and flag of the United Kingdom called the new flag "the Union Flag".
The size and power of the Royal Navy internationally at the time could also explain why the flag was named the "Union Jack"; considering the navy was so widely utilised and renowned by the United Kingdom and colonies, it is possible that the term jack occurred because of its regular use on all British ships using the jackstaff. The name may alternatively come from the 'jack-et' of the English or Scottish soldiers, or from the name of James I who originated the first union in 1603. Even if the term Union Jack does derive from the jack flag, after three centuries, it is now sanctioned by use and has appeared in official use, confirmed as the national flag by Parliament and remains the popular term.
Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945, referred to the flag of the United Kingdom as the Union Jack. In March 1899, Churchill wrote to his mother from India about her plans to produce a new trans-Atlantic magazine, to be called The Anglo-Saxon Review. The drawing at the end of this letter was deliberately facetious, teasing her for going down-market, and in the accompanying letter he wrote, "Your title 'The Anglo Saxon' with its motto 'Blood is thicker than water' only needs the Union Jack & the Star Spangled Banner crossed on the cover to be suited to one of Harmsworth's cheap Imperialist productions."
More recently, Reed's Nautical Almanac unambiguously stated: "The Union Flag, frequently but incorrectly referred to as the Union Jack,..." and later: "8. The Jack – A small flag worn on a jackstaff on the stem of Naval Vessels. The Royal Navy wears the Union Flag... This is the only occasion when it correct to describe the flag as the Union Jack". However, this assertion does not appear in any Reed's Nautical Almanac since 1993. In the 2016 Reed's Nautical Almanac, the only entry where this might appear, section 5.21, covering Flag Etiquette, does not include this statement. Within the Almanac, neither the Union Flag nor the Union Jack are included pictorially or mentioned by name.
For comparison with another anglophone country with a large navy, jack of the United States specifically refers to the flag flown from the jackstaff of a warship, auxiliary or other U.S. governmental entity.
The Butcher's Apron is a pejorative term for the flag, common amongst Irish republicans, citing the blood-streaked appearance of the flag and referring to atrocities committed in Ireland and other countries under British colonial rule. In 2006, Sandra White, a Member of the Scottish Parliament, caused a furore when the term was used in a press release under her name. It was later blamed on the actions of a researcher, who resigned yet claimed that the comment had been approved by White. The Irish folk band the Wolfe Tones has a song entitled "The Butcher's Apron" which makes reference to the term.
In the Chinese language, the flag has the nickname Rice-Character Flag because the pattern looks similar to the Chinese character for "rice".
Design
The current flag's design has been in use since 1801. Its original blazon, as decreed by George III of the United Kingdom on 1 January 1801, reads:the Union flag shall be azure, the crosses-saltires of St. Andrew and St. Patrick quartered per saltire counter changed argent and gules; the latter fimbriated of the second ; surmounted by the cross of St. George of the third , fimbriated as the saltire .
Specification
The Union Jack is normally twice as long as it is tall, a ratio of 1:2. In the United Kingdom, land flags are normally a ratio of 3:5; the Union Jack can also be made in this shape, but is 1:2 for most purposes. In 2008, MP Andrew Rosindell proposed a Ten Minute Rule bill to standardise the design of the flag at 3:5, but the bill did not proceed past the first reading.The three-component crosses that make up the Union Jack are sized as follows:
- The red St George's Cross width is of the flag's height with a flag height fimbriation
- The white diagonal St Andrew's Cross width is of the flag's height, visible on either side of the St Patrick's Cross in diagonals of and of the flag's height, respectively.
- The red diagonal St Patrick's Cross width is of the flag's height. It is offset by of the flag's height in an anti-clockwise direction. According to the official blazon of 1801, the white diagonal St Andrew's Cross is in fact counterchanged with the red diagonal of St Patrick's Cross. In this interpretation, the width of both saltires is of the flag's height, with fimbriations of of the flag's height on either side of the red saltire.