Red Ensign

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Red Ensign , ratio 1: 2
Historic flagRed Ensign , 1707-1801
Historic flagScottish Red Ensign , 1634–1701
New Zealand's Red Ensign
Red Ensign of the Falkland Islands
Indian trade flag

The Red Ensign is a British flag . It consists of a red cloth with the Union Jack in Gösch . The red of the cloth has the same color as the red of the Union Jack. It is the trade flag of the United Kingdom . It is used by British merchant ships and also by private individuals at sea. The trade flags of several former British colonies are also based on the Red Ensign .

history

The Red Ensign originally dates from the 17th century and carried the flag of England in the upper corner of the mast. In 1674, King Charles II proclaimed the Red Ensign to be the flag of British merchant ships. However, the wording of the law indicates that civil use was already common before this point in time.

At that time, Scottish merchant ships used a modification of the Red Ensign with the Scottish St. Andrew's Cross instead of the English St. George's Cross . After the union with Scotland in 1707, the original Union Jack was used instead of the English flag , which was an overlay of the English flag with the flag of Scotland . A proclamation by Queen Anne declared the Red Ensign to be one of the flags of the Royal Navy and allowed private use as a royal privilege.

With the integration of Ireland on January 1, 1801, the Irish St. Patrick's Cross , a red St. Andrew's cross on a white background, was added.

In 1854 the Red Ensign was declared the preferred trade flag.

Until the fleet reform in 1864, the Red Ensign was still listed as one of the three flags of the British Navy . ( Red Squadron ) This year the individual Ensigns were assigned their current functions.

  • White Ensign : Flag of the Navy (Naval War Flag)
  • Blue Ensign : flag of other government agencies at sea
  • Red Ensign: Commercial flag and flag of British individuals and companies at sea

Since 1865, state authorities of dependent areas and colonies of the Empire were also allowed to design the Blue Ensign with their own coat of arms ( badge ) and use it as an official flag .

As a result, private individuals from these areas were also allowed to run the Red Ensign , which led to various colonial trade flags that form the basis of several of today's trade flags. For example, although India did abolish the Union Jack , it continues to use the British flag system, so there is an Indian trade flag based on the Red Ensign . Australia and New Zealand, on the other hand, use a Red Ensign derived directly from the original as a trade flag. The flag of Canada also has its national color from this flag.

British seafarers jokingly call the Red Ensign Red Duster (English: red dust cloth).

See also

Web links

Commons : Red Ensigns  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Kemp (ed.): The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea . 1st edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1976, ISBN 0-19-211553-7 , pp. 695 (971 pp.).