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Royal Holyhead Yacht Club (United Kingdom)

image by Clay Moss, 19 February 2015
based on image located by David Prothero, 19 February 2015

Royal Holyhead Yacht Club

Royal Boston Yacht Club

Royal Holyhead Yacht Club,
Anglesey, North Wales.
Established 1854 as the Yacht Club.
19 June 1858. The secretary of the Yacht Club at Holyhead wrote to the Admiralty with a “respectful application to be allowed a warrant constituting this club a Royal Yacht Club.” A long letter extolling the attractions of Holyhead, with its improved harbour and direct rail connection to London, as an ideal location for a yacht club, concluded, “Should their Lordships be pleased to grant the request of the committee, they would prefer that the colours of the club should be a white (St George's) ensign, with the Prince of Wales' plume of feathers, surmounted by a crown; white burgee, with a red cross and similar crown and plume.”

26 June 1858. The Admiralty replied, that “application must be made to Her Majesty for permission that the title "Royal" may be assumed by the club, and that, should Her Majesty's consent be obtained, my Lords will be happy to grant warrants authorising the club to wear the red or blue ensign with the distinctive marks of the club, but that they regret they cannot give their sanction to the white ensign being worn, as that privilege is restricted to the Royal Yacht Squadron.”

10 July 1858. The club wrote to the Home Office requesting, “that a warrant constituting it a royal yacht club with power to carry an ensign of HM fleet might be granted.” The title was granted 15 July 1858.
[National Archives HO 45/6620]

The Prince of Wales' feathers surmounted by a crown had already been adopted by the Royal Welsh Yacht Club, and the ensign in Hounsell Brother’s Flag Book of the early 1870s is blue with a crown above a red dragon; [gb~rhyc.jpg]. However the proximity of the Royal Anglesey Yacht Club in Beaumaris, and the Royal Welsh Yacht Club in Caernarfon, were probably too much competition. The club never appeared in Lloyds Yacht Register, and in 1875 it was noted that “No warrants asked for, for years.”
David Prothero, 19 February 2015