Chapter XII: The Union Jack of Queen Anne, 1707

THE SECOND UNION JACK.

The story of the flag now brings us to the creation of the second two-crossed Jack, being the first _real_ "Union Jack" (23).

In the year 1707, being the sixth year of the reign of Queen Anne, the Parliaments of England and Scotland were at length brought into Union in one Parliament. Up to this time there had not been one distinctive "Union Jack" to represent both the kingdoms--no one flag taking the place of the separate national Jacks of St. George and St. Andrew, which the English and Scotch subjects of the Sovereign had each been instructed and continued to use, according to their nationality.

In Acts of Parliament which had been passed in the Parliaments of England and Scotland, prior to their ceasing to act and becoming merged in the one "Union Parliament of Great Britain," authority had been given to the Queen to create a flag, in which the two national flags, the "_Crosse of St. George_" and the "_Crosse of St. Andrew_," should be joined together to form a _Union Flag_.

PLATE V.

1

UNION JACK OF ANNE--1707

2

RED ENSIGN OF ANNE--1707.

3

UNION JACK OF GEORGE III.--1801]

The Queen accordingly called her councillors together, and a Committee of the Lords of the Privy Council was appointed "_to consider of several matters in Execution of the Act lately pass'd for the uniting of the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland_."

Instructions were given by this Committee to the Right Honourable the Earl of Bindon, Deputy Earl Marshal of England,

"to give Direction to the Kings of Arms and ye Heralds to consider of the Alterations to be made in the Ensigns Armorial and the Conjoyning the Crosses of St. George and St. Andrew to be used in all Flags, Banners, Standards and Ensigns at _Sea and Land_, and that they lay before the Committee Drafts of the present Flags of England and of Scotland, and of such alterations as they propose for the Flags of the United Kingdom."[59]

[59] Minute of Council, 17 March, 1707.

These directions were carried out and various designs prepared by the Heralds and the Committee were thereafter presented for final adjudication and authority at a meeting of the Privy Council, as recorded in the Minutes:

"At the Court at Kensington, the 17 day of April, 1707.

"Present:

"The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council:

"Whereas upon a Report from the Lords of Her Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council appointed to consider of divers matters in execution of the late Act for Uniting the Two Kingdoms, who were attended by the Kings of Arms and Heralds with divers Drafts proposed by them relating to the Ensigns Armorial for the United Kingdom and for adjoining the Crosses of St. George and St. Andrew pursuant to the said Act, Her Majesty is pleased to approve of the following particulars, viz.:

"That the Draft marked A be made use of for the manner of bearing Arms for the said United Kingdom.

* * * * *

"That the Flaggs be according to the Draft marked C, wherein the Crosses of St. George and St. Andrew are Conjoyned."[60]

[60] Minute of the Privy Council, 17 April, 1707.

Copies of the minute and of the drafts were transmitted under seal to the College of Arms, London. A careful copy of the drawing of Draft C, as attested by a certificate of the York _Herald_, is given (fig. 24).

Formal and important promulgation of the Orders and Flags was ordered by another paragraph of this same minute of April:

"And Her Majesty is pleased to Order, That these Minutes be put into the Hands of Her Majesty's Principal Secretarys of State, who are to Receive Her Majesty's Pleasure thereupon, And to signify the same within the United Kingdom of great Britain and in Ireland, Her Majesty's Plantations in America, the Islands of Jersey and Guernsey and all other Her Majesty's Dominions."[61]

[61] Minute of the Privy Council, 17 April, 1707.

This _Draft C_, so prepared by the Committee and Heralds, and selected and approved by Her Majesty the Queen and Her Privy Council, was duly transmitted to be the form of the new "_Flagg_," which was to be used on all "_Flags and Ensigns at sea and on land_," and not only by Her Majesty's subjects in the Home Kingdoms, but in all the Islands and Dominions beyond the seas.

Thus was formed the "Union Jack" of Queen Anne, which, taking the place of the Jack of James I., "_commonly called the Union Jack_," was the second two-crossed Jack, and the first fully authorized "Union Jack."

In the July following, the Queen issued a proclamation regarding "Our Jack" and the "Ensign" of the now completely United Kingdom, and defining more particularly how these flags were to be used at sea:

ROYAL ARMS.

_Three lions for England_, _red lion for Scotland_, _harp for Ireland_, _three fleurs-de-lis for France_, _and the motto, "Semper Eadem."_

"BY THE QUEEN.

"_A Proclamation_--_Declaring what ensign or colours shall be worn at sea in merchant ships or vessels belonging to any of Her Majesty's subjects of Great Britain and the Dominions thereunto belonging._--ANNE R.

"Whereas, by the first article of the Treaty of Union, as the same hath been ratified and approved by several Acts of Parliament, the one made in our Parliament of England, and the other in our Parliament of Scotland, it was provided and agreed that the ensigns armorial of our Kingdom of Great Britain be such as we should appoint, and the crosses of Saint George and Saint Andrew _conjoyned in such manners as we should think fit_, and used in all flags, banners, standards and ensigns both at sea and land; we have, therefore, thought fit, by and with the advice of our Privy Council, to order and appoint _the ensign described on the side or margent hereof_, to be worn on board all ships or vessels belonging to any of our subjects whatsoever; and to issue this, our Royal Proclamation, to notifie the same to all our loving subjects, hereby strictly charging and commanding the masters of all merchant ships and vessels belonging to our subjects, _whether employed in our service or otherwise_, and all other persons whom it may concern, to wear the said ensign on board the ships or vessels."

After creating the _Ensign_, which was to be used by all ships, warning was given, so that Her Majesty's ships might be the more easily distinguished, against the using of the single Jack, or of any of the distinctive flags of the Royal Navy, without permission.

"And whereas, divers of our subjects have presumed on board their ships to wear our flag, Jacks and pendants, which, according to ancient usage, have been appointed as a distinction for our ships, and have worn flags, Jacks and pendants in shape and mixture of colours so little different from ours as not without difficulty to be distinguished therefrom. We do, therefore, with the advice of our Privy Council, hereby strictly charge and command all our subjects whatsoever, that they do not presume to wear in any of their ships _Our Jack, commonly called the 'Union Jack_,' nor any pendants, nor any such colours as are usually worn by our ships without particular warrant for their so doing from us."

The proclamation then stated that no other ensign was to be used, and that it was to take the place of the ensign red up to that time used by merchant ships:

"And to hereby further command all our loving subjects that without such warrant as aforesaid they presume not to wear on board their ships _any other ensign_ than the ensign described on the side or _Margent hereof_, which shall be _worn instead of_ the ensign before this time usually worn on merchant ships.

"Given at our Court at Windsor, the 28th day of July, in the sixth year of our reign.

"_God Save the Queen._"

Here, then, we have the establishment of a new flag in accordance with the intention of the Treaty of Union. In this flag the "crosses" of St. George and St. Andrew were conjoined; the new flag was called "Our Jack" (Pl. v., fig. 1), which in its simple form, as a single Jack, was not to be used afloat on any other ships than Her Majesty's Royal Navy without particular warrant. A notable change was now made in the Ensign. We have seen how, in 1660, the English St. George cross had remained alone in possession of the upper corner of the "ensign red." Although the St. George cross continued, as it still does, in the "command pennant" of all officers of the Royal Navy, its place in the Ensign was now taken by the new "Union Jack," in the form as shown "in the margent" (25).

The "Red Ensign," thus formed, was authorized to be worn thereafter on all ships, both merchantmen and those in Her Majesty's service; and, further, that no other Ensign was to be worn except this "Red Ensign," with the new Union Jack in the upper corner, which was to take the place of the separate national Jacks and of the "Ensign Red" previously used on the merchant ships of the subjects of the Sovereign.

Here, then, ceased the official authority on ships as national flags of the separate crosse-flags of St. George and St. Andrew, and began the reign of the first "Union Jack" of the United Kingdoms. Then, too, was first raised the British Union Ensign, the "meteor flag" of the realm, to be worn by all subjects of Britain's Queen, whether on land or on sea, at home or abroad, on merchant ships or on men-of-war, so that wherever the blood-red flag should fly the world would know the nation to which its bearers belonged. In this _red ensign_ (Pl. V., fig. 2), the paramount flag of the nation, the new "Union Jack" was placed; a position which, although so long enjoyed by the "English Jack," had never been occupied by the "additional" Jack of James I., whose term was now brought to a close.

The proclamation and drawing of the ensign, as shown (25), are taken by photo reproduction from the upper corner of an original in the British Museum, London, and verified with the copy of the flag in the College of Arms.

A very noticeable difference will be seen to exist between "our" new Jack of Queen Anne, of 1707, and the "additional" Jack of James, of 1606, as usually given.

The white border surrounding the St. George cross has been enlarged, and is no longer a mere margin or "fimbriation," but has become a broad white border, distinctive in size and appearance.

In the King James I. flag the crosses were "_joyned according to the forme made by our heralds_";[62] in the Queen Anne flag they are to be "_conjoyned in such manners as we should think fit"_,[63] in accordance with the request of the Parliaments of the two kingdoms. This time the designers of the "drafts," to whom the two then "_present flags of England and of Scotland_"[64] had been committed, were not thinking so much of heraldry as of making, as they were instructed, a union flag, and, while combining the two crosses, of making the two flags into one.

[62] Proclamation, p. 75.

[63] Proclamation, p. 123.

[64] Instructions, p. 119.

We have seen with what carefulness the combined Committee of the Privy Council and of the Heralds had proceeded, and when the new flagmakers thus broadened the white, they did it, it has been considered, for the purpose of representing in the Union flag a part of the white ground of the St. George Jack, which had previously been entirely effaced, but which by the broad white border was now given its place in the new "Union," as well as, and in company with, that of the blue ground of the St. Andrew flag.

(Reproduced from an old print.)]

A confirmation of this intention will be found in the annals of the next change in the Union Jack, which was made almost a century later. It is possible, too, that the views of the designers were affected by the relative proportions of some of the King James Jacks, which were in official use and will be referred to later.

It may have been that some of the Queen's advisers and designers were sailors, who had carried the red cross of St. George, and now that it was being withdrawn from the Ensign of the nation in favour of the newcomer, felt, like the admiral of old, that it was but due to its centuries of glorious service that evidence of the whole English Jack--its white ground as well as its red cross--should be displayed in the new national emblem.

There the broad white band appeared in this two-crossed Jack, and has ever since remained, showing the red cross and white ground of St. George's Jack, combined, with the white cross and blue ground of St. Andrew's Jack, into one "Union Jack," which was hereafter to be the "sole ensign" of British rule.

It was this two-crossed Union Jack of Queen Anne which was raised at Plassey, when Clive won India, and at Pondicherry and at Seringapatam. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland were early (1713) transferred to it from the _fleur-de-lis_, and Sir William Johnson raised it in Canada above the old Fort Niagara, on the shores of Lake Ontario[65] (26), when

[65] The artist would appear to have altered the flag shown on the flagstaff in a sketch which he had made the previous year. The sketch was made in 1758, and the Fort taken in 1759. A "colonial escutcheon" will be noted in the centre Union.

"The last day came, and Bois Le Grand
Beheld with misty eyes
The flag of France run down the staff,
And that of England rise."[66]

[66] Kirby: "Spina Christi."

Under it Wolfe stormed _Louisbourg_, the key fortress of Cape Breton, and, following up his victory, climbed the Heights, and died victorious on the Plains of Abraham (27), when, in 1759, _Quebec_ was gained and all Canada came under the realm of British law.

(From an old print published in London, 1760.)]

The youthful Nelson saw it fly aloft when he served as captain's coxswain on a British man-of-war searching for the North Pole, and twenty-five years later when in glorious action he won his title as Baron Nelson of the Nile.

The _Cape Colony_ was first acquired, and the _West Coast of Africa, New South Wales and Vancouver Island_ were all added under its display, showing how the mariners of Britain were carrying it far across the distant seas, more distant then than now, for those sea-dogs of the "sceptred isles," boldly raising their new Union Jack upon the mast, braved the unknown oceans, and sailed their ships wherever billows rolled or winds could waft them.

So it came that, as its "glory roll" so vividly tells, it was under this second Union Jack the colonial possessions which dot the world around were either occupied by doughty Britons or were wrested from the flags of other nations to form the foundation of that Greater Britain which, from these beginnings, has since grown up in all the regions beyond the seas.