The Flag of England; A brief history

Posting this in the week following St George's Day I think it might be a good idea to look at the history of the flag of England. Now first off I do not mean the Union Jack as that is not the flag of England but of the United Kingdom, of which England is only a part.
The historic and defacto Flag of England is the St George's Cross. A red latin cross of a white field. Before we look at this flag it might be a good idea to quickly look at it's namesake.
There is much said and resaid about St George as well as many claims regarding his origins. What is probably safe to say is that he was not English he was probably of Greek origin. What we do know is that he was an officer in the Roman army possibly even in the Emperor's Guard and that he was executed by the Emperor Diocletian for his Christian faith on 23rd April 303AD, and this day is celebrated as St George's Day. Myth credits St George with many great deeds including healing the sick and slaying a dragon. Due to his military background St George is seen as the Warrior Saint and thus particularly patronised by soldiers as well as the scouting movement and sufferers of certain skin diseases.
It is important to note that the St George cross was not always the banner of England, there were many flags often associated with a variety of saints that were used by English kings, English ships and English armies since the kingdom was formed in the 10th Century . Dragon standards were used by the Anglo-Saxons and continued to be used post Norman conquest and throughout the middle ages.

St George depicted on the Great War memorial
windows in the Guildhall, Londonderry, N.Ireland

St George’s patronage of England dates to the time of the Crusades. The word crusade literally meaning to take up the cross. This may be because crusaders distinguished themselves by wearing crosses over their armour and on their shields. As a warrior saint, George naturally appealed to the soldiers who believed they were fighting to defend Christendom. There are reports of various miraculous appearances and manifestations of the saint during the crusades, most notably at the battle of Antioch in 1098. In most of these appearances he was said to have been clad in armour emblazoned with the cross. This is why despite being a Roman soldier St George is often depicted as a Crusader in armour appropriate to that era. This could also be where the red cross is attributed to him. It is notable that St George in all likelihood did not use a red cross on white field either on a shield or in a flag in his lifetime, having lived before the advent of heraldry, but that these symbols were attributed to him by later generations. Most likely by the Crusaders for the above mentioned reasons and like the image of St George himself in medieval armour they have stuck to the present day. 
Of the English Crusades the one organised by Henry II and Philip II of France is interesting as in this the English and French distinguished themselves by the colour of their crosses. However it was the French who wore a red cross on white whereas the English wore a white cross on red. Popular belief is that English use of St George's Cross originates from when Richard I the Lionheart, adopted the flag of the Italian state of Genoa and Saint George as his patron saint in 1191 during the Third Crusade. 13^th Century English ships in the Mediterranean may have also flew the Genoa flag as a deterrent to pirates (Genoa was a powerful naval power), for this England payed a fee to Genoa. In fact this resurfaced in 2018 when Mayor of Genoa Marco Bucci was reported stating that the last payment was in 1746, and Her Majesty’s Government owed Genoa over 250 years back payments! He further said that he was considering writing to HM the Queen and suggested that payment could be in the form of a large charity donation or the restoration of historic buildings. Buckingham Palace responded by saying it would consider a royal visit to Genoa, and indeed representatives of the UK's Flag Institute were present in Genoa this St George's Day to celebrate Genoa and England's shared use of the flag. 

Badge of the Order of the Garter 

When exactly England adopted St George and his cross is not exactly known, however it seems English soldiers have used the red cross on white as an identifying symbol since at least Edward I; for accounts from 1277 describe cloth for pennons and braces “of the arms of Saint George” for the King’s soldiers.
As already mentioned there were other symbols associated with other Saints used before St George and these didn't disappear but continued to be used alongside St George's Cross. . St George’s dominant position as patron saint may stem from Edward III who founded the Chapel of St George in Windsor, and the founding of the Most Noble Order of the Garter on St Georges’ Day in 1348. 
There are decrees describe how English soldiers should dress throughout the Middle Ages, which often include the wearing of St George's Cross on their Jackets. 

In regard to use on flags in 1370 the Clerk of the armour and artillery of the King’s ships acknowledged receipt of a number of flags which did include “Banners of Saint George” amongst others.

A roll of ship’s flags from the reign of Henry VI describes flags of various saints including St George, St Edward and St Katherine. This type of practice continued until the reformation, put saintly banners out of favour. 

St George was well truly and unquestionably the patron of England by the time of the reformation, as all saintly banners except that of St George disappeared.

Detail from the Anthony Roll depicting
English Warships flying the St George Cross. Public Domain

Henry VIII commissioned many ships during his reign. Although in the early years of his reign ships displayed all sorts of emblems on flags including portcullises, roses, dragons and even greyhounds, later on it appears that the St George’s Cross is the dominant flag. The Anthony Roll records the ships of Henry’s fleet and shows them depicted in great detail. From the rolls we see a more uniform approach to the flags of the fleet. Although royal banners, green and white striped flags (Tudor colours), and flags bearing Henry’s cypher are used, the cross of St George is clearly the ‘national’ flag. The Cross of St George flies prominently from the masts.

During the reign of Elizabeth I we see the appearance of ensigns for the first time. A portrait of the Queen painted to commemorate the victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588, shows not only the Spanish ships foundering off the stormy coast of the British Isles, but the triumphant English ships identified by the flag of the St George’s Cross.

It is clear that by the 16^th Century the Cross of St George had become the lead flag for identifying English ships both merchant and naval. Through this use at sea it was therefore well established as the national flag by 1606 when the Union Flag was first introduced. This flag was introduced by James I who was also King of Scotland to demonstrate his reign over both kingdoms. It combined the Cross of St George representing England with the Cross of St Andrew representing Scotland. 

However this new flag did not replace the Cross of St George for James ordered that British ships fly it alongside their pre existing flags (Cross of St George for the English and St Andrew's Cross from the Scottish). The Union Jack would later be restricted an an ornament for the King's ships (which is still the case today) leaving the St George Cross free reign on land and sea. 

St George's Cross was a prominent symbol in the flags of both sides of the English Civil Wars although it was not featured in all flags. 

 The Navy was at this time colour coded into red, white and blue fleets, with each fleet flying flags corresponding with that colour. Each ship would fly the appropriate coloured ensign with St George's Cross in the Canton, and Admirals flew a flag of the said colour from their flagship. In 1702 the white flags of the Royal Navy emblazoned with the red cross for easier identification. Merchant ships also fell into this scheme being permitted to use the red ensign.In 1702 the white flags of the Royal Navy emblazoned with the red cross for easier identification. This has ramifications to this day as this meant at sea the Cross of St George was the distinct flag of an Admiral and this is still the case today, meaning private craft that display the flag are technically breaking the law. This is also why the modern British naval ensign features a large St George Cross, the Royal Navy dropping the red and blue ensigns and flags in 1864.

Flag of England flying from Leeds Town Hall
Mtaylor848  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

It continued to be used in the Company flags of English regiments and in the canton of English maritime ensigns until the Treaty of Union in 1707 when England & Scotland united to form Great Britain. After this the Union Jack replaced the St George Cross in these flags. Although the symbol was still in use for most of the three centuries of Union the St George Cross was a minor flag in the shadow of the Union Jack. However that is not the case today with the flag in resurgence possibly being more popular with private English citizens than the Union Flag and even flying form many public buildings of local authorities either alongside the Union Jack or in place of it on non designated days. 

This is probably at least in part mirroring the use of Scottish and Welsh flags in those parts of the United Kingdom which have regained popularity in the late 20th Century particularly through sport where the British Home Nations compete separately, although by the 21st Century the popularity of these flags have spread beyond sport to the general public sport fan and non sport fan alike.

By and large the English flag is not seen as a political emblem and is used by members of the public in England for many reasons chief of which is an expression of national identity even if it is not a unique symbol of England.

Union of Commonwealth Realms

Before I start this post I would like to apologize for my lack of recent posts, this is due in part to research and study for a print publication I am currently working on, and it is taking up the greater part of my spare time, so post might be few and far between I'm afraid, but I will try to put one up every now and then.
Currently British politics is dominated (with a slight exception of regional elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) by the upcoming referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union. As usual I am not advocating any political opinion, but I was intrigued when I seen a hypothetical scenario. The scenario was the UK leaves and forms a free trade and movement zone, between the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. with certain joint institutions, rather similar to the European Union but more anglocentric. I even seen a potential flag for such a union by Zach Elsbury:

  It evokes the British ensign which not only includes the Union Flag but is the same style of flag used by Australia and New Zealand with a red field for Canada (the former flag of Canada was a red ensign). Its defaced with a shield quartered with the national plants of the four nations.
Inspired by this design I thought of having ago at a similar flag, with more emphasis of an international organisation rather than a colony. My first design was this:

Still inspired by an esign which has elements all of the four member states flags have in common,The Union Jack has official status in Canada and the UK, and appears on the Australian and New Zealand flags. it features the gold wreath and a globe. The roses form part of the cypher which is in the centre of all the commonwealth royal standards outside the UK, including those of Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The globe is from the flag of the Commonwealth of Nations. This flag is timeless as it has no direct symbolism to any individual state, meaning if a member leaves or other realms like Tuvalu or Jamacia join the flag doesn't require changing. However thinking the globe might look a little like a mock up British Empire flag, I decided to replace it with a crown, the symbol of the monarch which share:

I like this better as it is a simpler design and looks a little less cramped.

United Nations

The United Nations (UN) flag and emblem is perhaps one of the most famous and well known flags in the modern world, and is seen as a symbol of international cooperation and the strive for world peace. However from a Vexillology view I don't think its actually good flag for a worldwide international organization in fact it isn't really much better than a seal/shield on a bed sheet design commonly found in municipal flags, rather than an international flag of a form of world government. Of course it is extremely difficult to create a flag like the UN flag. Such a flag has to be relevant to all member states which currently number 193 sovereign nations plus two observers who are not members. It can't have any religious symbols, or any references to political systems. Also different regions of the world have different heraldic traditions to name only a few considerations so it is extremely difficult to make a simple flag that can be agreed to by everyone.  Hence the map of the world and olive branches which are more or less a universal symbol of peace. According to the UN website the symbolism is:
"Olive branches symbolize peace. The world map depicts the area of concern to the United Nations in achieving its main purpose, peace and security."
I decided to see if I could improve on the design a little. My first thought was to hark back to the origins of the UN and have something along the lines of the "four freedoms flag" which I had based flags on before (notably my WW2 Allied flag).

The four freedoms flag, proposed as an early UN flag
(but never had official status)

At the same time though I didn't want to completely get rid of the globe and olive symbol, Not least  because of the flags it has inspired in fiction. As I am sure every Star Trek fan is aware of, the flag of the Federation bear a clear similarity to the UN flag:

flag of the Federation from Star Trek

The flag of the pre-Federation United Earth in the Star Trek: Enterprise series also seems to be loosely based on the UN flag.  Staying with Sci-fi (sort of ) the Democratic Order of Planets (DOOP) flag from the animated comedy Futurama has a resemblance to the UN flag as does the flag of the Allied Nations in the movie Street Fighters and the video game Mercenaries. The fact that it has been mimicked so much demonstrates that the globe and olive branches has a universally recognised symbol and I don't want to abandon it completely. My first attempt was this:

I thought the current map of the world globe was way too complicated, so I simplified it to depicting the lines of longitude and latitude. Similar but not exactly the same as the globe on the flag of the Commonwealth of Nations. I also included four bars as a reference to the Four Freedoms flag. However this is to symbolise the nations and individuals who in the dark days of WW2 had the vision to establish a worldwide organisation dedicated to the peace and security of the planet, rather than the four freedoms symbolised in the original flag (which have been surpassed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). I also though of using a darker blue but decided against it as not only is it as recognisable as the globe emblem but is directly influenced the shades of blue used on national flags, such as Somalia. While I was happy with the symbols and symbolism I wasn't happy with how the flag looked. I tried a handful of variations (none of which I liked) until I decided to simplify again and came up with this:

I centralised the stripes, and symbolized the globe to a blue oval (Earth is the blue planet after all). However I was still unhappy with it, not because of the design itself but because it didn't resemble the laurel and globe of the actual UN flag. I could of course put this inside the blue circle, but it didn't seem right to me, to put a globe inside another globe. However I remembered the International Earth flag proposed by Oskar Pernefeldt:

Flag of Planet Earth proposed by Oskar Pernefeldt

He used a seven rings to make a flower (symbol of life) the fact that the rings are linked (like the Olympic flag) symbolises how everything is linked, however they could also symbolise the Unity of the nations of world. I decided to adopt this "Earth symbol" into my UN flag:

I think this works well, it keeps in the design a similar looking emblem to the current UN one, and it doesn't compromise on the symbolism of the globe or bars. The inclusion of the "Earth" symbol could even symbolise the hope for a future united Earth.

What I also like about this flag is that you can modify it for UN organisations but unlike the current flags of UN organisations keep the main symbolism of the globe and bars. For example the flag of the United Nations Assembly could look like:

Likewise the flag of the World Health Organisation could be this:

Just two examples of the variations that could be achieved. Unlike the current UN flag, this flag will also be easily recognizable when there is no wind.  

Thunderbirds Are Go!

Thunderbirds Are Go is a new CGI adaptation of the original 1960s TV show Thunderbirds, the repeats of which and comics I thoroughly enjoyed when I was a wean. Like the original show Thunderbirds Are Go is set in the late twenty first Century (post 2026) and follows the exploits of the International Rescue Agency, a non profit organisation run by the Tracey Family, which rescues people in need using their State of the art Thunderbird machines and advanced technology. International Rescue is a secret organisation to safeguard its equipment and technology from falling into the wrong hands and being used for evil. Their are a couple of differences in the new series and original show notably its made using CGI and not puppets, however most of the original characters are present.

The International Rescue crew from the original series (left) and new adaptation (right)

The original International Rescue from the original Thunderbirds had its own insignia that was orn on their uniform (particularly crossbelts) were the letters "I R" were worn in the cap (which was only worn part of the time)

As can be seen with the above pic the new adaptation has no badge i decided to correct this, my thinking was something that would look good as an arm patch, I eventually came up with this:

It was inspired by the arm patch United Nations Peacekeepers wear. It features the globe, wing and hand of the original emblem but altered, There two wings stretching across the globe and supporting the organisation's name, and the hand is reaching out to help another one. International Rescue appears around the badge in English and Spanish which are I believe the two most common languages. I decided to take this a little further an design a flag for International Rescue and separate arm patches for the crew (depending on which Thunderbird they operate). First the flag:

My first design uses a blue field with six stripes, one for each of the Thunderbirds (in the colours of the craft itself) Thunderbirds 1 -5 and Thunderbird Shadow. The International Rescue insignia is in the canton.

Or alternatively the stripes are moved to the centre and the insignia is placed over them in the hoist. This is my personal preference.
As for the individual arm patches they are based on the agency's insignia but with a coloured outer boarder, the hands replaced with a number and "International Rescue Agency" replaced with the Thunderbird's name:

Thunderbird One

Thunderbird Two

Thunderbird Three

 Thunderbird Four

 Thunderbird Five

 Shadow

The exception to these patches is Shadow which is new to the series and didn't appear before and as it is the only Thunderbirds machine to have a name rather than number, it uses a coloured variant of the hands. 

Also in the new series is a new organisation called the Global Defence Force (GDF) which is a government organisation that works alongside International Rescue, although its primary role is international security rather than rescue work. International Rescue's liaison officer in the GDF is Colonel Casey (it is speculated is based on Colonel Tim Casey an Air Force officer and old friend of International Rescue's founder Jeff Tracey fro the Space Program in the original series. ITV has neiter denied or confirmed this). I designed a flag for the GDF, it is based on a unit Camp flag used by the British Military. It is a blue field with a large grey bar flanked by two gold stripes running diagonally across the field, with the GDF badge in the centre:

The badge is cross between that of emblem of United Nations Space Command(UNSC) from the Halo Games, and the UK's Special Air Service (SAS) insignia  With a winged sword going through a globe, and a scroll with the GDF initials. 

Alternatively as it appears there is a unified Earth government it could have a UN style flag:

Let me know what you think, all feedback appreciated. I'll end this post with a trailer for the new series: