Last modified: 2015-12-17 by rob raeside
Keywords: england | united kingdom | cross: saint george | leopards: 3 | lions: 3 |
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![[Flag of England]](../images/g/gb-eng.gif)
3:5; image by Vincent MorleySee also:
* The asterisk indicates the flag is listed in the UK Flag Registry.
For more details on laws concerning flying of county and local flags in the United Kingdom, see our page at Home and Commercial flag flying.
The cross of St George, not the Union Jack, is the flag of England.
It is a red cross on a white field. The Church of England uses the
cross of Saint George with the shield of arms of its diocese in the
canton, although in practice many, when they fly the flag at all, fly
the plain cross.
Roy Stilling, 21 November 1995
The official proportions for the national flag of England is 3:5, with
the cross being 1/5 of the height of the flag wide. The same ratio is used
for Scotland and Wales. The saltire on Scotland's flag is also 1/5 of the
height of the flag wide. It was chosen as being the closest 'standard'
shape to the golden rectangle.
Graham Bartram, 5 April 1999
Public buildings in England are supposed to fly the Union Jack on St George's
Day (April 23rd) and can only fly St George if they have more than one flagpole.
Roy Stilling, 20 February 1998
Although St. George was known in England in the 5th Century and his legend
was brought back to England by stories from the 1st crusade, there is no mention
of the 'Cross of St. George'. If, as I am led to believe, Richard the Lionheart
(1189-1199) saw a vision of St. George with a red cross banner, I can only
assume that Richard brought back the red cross. This seems to be at odds with
the history of the Genoa flag where Filipo Nocetti
gives information that English ships bore the cross so as to have safe passage
into the port of Genoa, subsequently paying the King for this safe passage.
Filipo gives the year 1190 some 9 years before Richard returned, so if our
Italian correspondent is correct then the 'Cross of St. George' would have been
seen in England before the second
crusade.
Barry Hamblin, 1 July 2002
There is a chapter on this subject in British Flags by
W.G.Perrin (1922) who was Admiralty Librarian
in the early 1900's. He wrote that although St George was popular among
crusaders there was no particular connection with England at that time. St
George was a foreign saint and it was many years before he came to be regarded
as similar in importance to the English saints Edward and Edmund.
Briefly he wrote that;
England as a nation state did not exist until the reign of Edward I (1272), all
previous kings having been Norman or Anglo-Norman.
The earliest reference to the cross of St George as an English emblem (not flag)
was in a roll of account relating to the Welsh War of 1277.
Although the banner of St George was flown when the castle of Caerlaverock was
taken in 1300, it was in company with those of St Edward and St Edmund.
Edward the Confessor was "patron saint" of England until 1348 when the greater
importance of St George was promoted by the establishment of the Chapel of St
George at Windsor. It was not until 1415 that the festival of St George was
raised to the position of a "double major feast" and ordered to be observed
throughout the Province of the Archbishop of Canterbury with as much solemnity
as Christmas Day.
St George's cross did not achieve any sort of status as the national flag until
the 16th century, when all other saints' banners were abandoned during the
Reformation. The earliest record of St George's flag at sea, as an English flag
in conjunction with royal banners but no other saintly flags, was 1545.
David Prothero, 1 July 2002
Were there other saints' banners in the 16th Century?
Željko Heimer, 2 July 2002
To quote Perrin, page 40.
"When the Prayer Book was revised under Edward VI (1547-1553), the festival of
St George was abolished, with many others. Under the influence of the
Reformation the banners of his former rivals, St
Edward and St Edmund, together with all
other religious flags in public use, except that of St George, entirely
disappeared, and their place was taken by banners containing royal badges."
In connection with flags ordered for ships in the 15th century he mentions, the
gittons of Holy Trinity, Holy Ghost, St Mary, St Edward, St George; the
streamers of Holy Ghost, St Katherine, St Nicholas; banners of St Peter, St
Katherine, St George, St Edward, St Anne; standards of St Mary, St George, Holy
Ghost, St Edward; plus non-religious flags in various forms bearing, royal arms,
ostrich feather, swan, antelope, pomegranate and rose, rose of white and green,
dragon, lion, greyhound, portcullis and red lion.
David Prothero, 3 July 2002
There is a growing movement for craft on the inland waterways of
England to fly the Cross of St. George in place of the Red Ensign. What is the
legal position?
Chris. K. Potter, 25 September 2007
Craft on inland waterways do not appear to be excluded from the definition of a
"small ship" in the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. "Small ships", among others,
need permission to fly "any colours usually worn by Her Majesty's ships". See
http://www.uk-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/ukpga_19950021_en_2#pt1.
Some years ago a request for permission to fly St George's flag was refused. See
Admiral of the Medway
David Prothero, 25 September 2007
The use of the 1:2 St. George's flag as a merchant jack can be justified. It
was definitely the correct jack for English and later British merchant ships
from 1674 to 1824 when reference to it was omitted from the regulations. Some
took this omission to mean that it was not correct for merchant ships to use it
as a jack, while others argued that since it was not specifically prohibited it
was still legal under the proclamation of 1674, which has not been cancelled. It
is at present occasionally used as a jack.
David Prothero, 10
February 2008