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Herm, Channel Islands

Bailiwick of Guernsey

image by Jaume Ollé

Description of the flag

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Description of the flag

The arms are azure, between two dolphins argent a bend or bearing three cowled monks sable - i.e. a blue field with a silver heraldic dolphin (looking nothing like the aquatic mammal of the same name!) in the bottom left and top right. From top left to bottom right there is a yellow diagonal stripe bearing three cowled monks in black robes. I believe this may also be a personal, not an island flag.
Roy Stilling, 14 March 1996

Flagmaster no. 43 gave news of the adoption of the flag. The ratio is 3:5. It is the usual Cross of Saint George, also used by Guernsey, with a banner of the arms of Herm in the canton. The blue symbolizes the sea that surrounds the island, and the yellow the island itself. The three monks are a reference to the past, since the island was colonized by Benedictine monks from Mont-Saint-Michel in the 11th century and later by Augustinians; for some time Herm was the site of a monastery and monks lived alone on the island. The shield of Herm was adopted in 1953, designed by the Reverend Percival of Guernsey. Around 1951 the island used a blue flag with the heraldic shield of Guernsey near the hoist (three leopards in red field with a green foliage above and the words 'HERM ISLAND' below).
Jaume Ollé, 1 October 1996

According to The Complete Guide to Flags the flag of Herm is depicted with a bend argent (a 'silver' or white diagonal band running from top left to bottom right corners) in the upper hoist canton. It does not seem as though this follows Reverend Percival's 1953 coat-of-arms which apparently employed the heraldic metal or (gold or yellow). This source of information should be considered authoritative because the book's author, William Crampton, himself designed the flag of Herm. On page 25, Herm's flag is clearly shown bearing a bend argent. There always remains the slight possibility that any discrepancy in coloration is due to a printer's error - there is no full textual description of the color scheme provided. It is also possible that, through popular usage, the color has changed.
M. Breier, 17 June 1999