List of colonial badge types (UK) (original) (raw)


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Last modified: 2013-08-03 by rob raeside
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Introduction

There is a note at the beginning of the 1916 and 1930 Admiralty flag books which reads:

The white circles are not to appear on the Red and Blue Ensigns except where they are necessary to display the design; e.g. where the badge itself has a border of the same colour as the ensign.

Some individual badges had additional notes such as 'on Blue Ensign without the white ground' or 'on Blue Ensign as shewn without the white circle'. In 1918 the Admiralty and Colonial Office agreed that there should be no white disc unless necessary, but thought that there could be 'occasions for diversity of opinion where the border of a badge was not uniform' and many white discs were officially removed following a survey in 1919. The situation in 1924 is described in Public Record Office, ADM 116/1847B, and as far as I know the "correct" appearance of the colonial ensigns was as follows:

David Prothero, 25 February and 20 October 1999

There are/were a number of badges on coloured discs, although it is not always clear whether the disc is coloured or the background colour is part of the badge:

Coloured discs:
Blue Military authorities afloat Union Jack 1869-
Blue Natal Union Jack 1905-1910
Orange Northern Ireland Union Jack c1924-1973
Green Southern Nigeria Union Jack and Blue Ensign 1900-1914
Badges with a coloured background:
Red Northern Nigeria Union Jack and Blue Ensign 1900-1914
Blue Victoria Union Jack 1900-1984
Yellow British North Borneo Union Jack (with no garland), Blue Ensign and Red Ensign 1882-1948
Yellow Liu Kung Tau Union Jack 1898-1902
Yellow South Australia Union Jack UJ: 1903-1976; BE: 1904-
Yellow Western Australia Union Jack UJ: 1870-1988; BE: 1870-
Gold Burma Union Jack and Blue Ensign 1937-1948
Red Nigeria Union Jack and Blue Ensign 1914-1960
Yellow over white over black diagonally British Central Africa Protectorate(Nyasaland after 1907) Union Jack and Blue Ensign 1894-1914

David Prothero, 30 December 1999

The Ministry of Defence is trying to address the problem of the small badges on some ensigns. The latest official drawings bring the older ensigns of British overseas territories into line with the modern practice as seen in the flags of Guernsey, Isle of Man, British Antarctic Territory and Pitcairn Islands, where the badges are a lot larger. In some cases, they are nearly 300% larger. This means that there is no longer either the need or the room for the white discs. Where the shield and background colour are similar, a white fimbriation is used instead. These will hopefully make it a lot easier to identify the various territories.
Graham Bartram, 25 May 1999

In 1999 the Ministry of Defence (MoD) department in charge of flags, the DCTA, decided, in consultation with the College of Arms, that the badges on many British flags were too small for identification. They also did not match the newer flags granted directly by the Queen, through the College of Arms, which have much larger badges.

So the MoD decided to make the badges much larger - the size and placement of badges on British ensigns was a decision in the power of the Admiralty, and passed to the MoD when the Admiralty ceased to exists as a separate body. So the MoD was simply exercising its authority in the matter, for the better identification of flags.

This meant that the white discs had to get larger. In fact the discs had to be so large that they looked ridiculous and it was therefore decided to discard them as they were no longer necessary, the new badges being clear even without the discs. So the new illustration of the Falkland Islands, Cayman Islands and Montserrat in BR20 (the government flag book) all had much larger badges (but no change to the design of the badge) and no white discs.

Of course the MoD's authority on flags only covers flags at sea, so the Islands concerned are free to continue using flags with discs on land if they wish to, but flags for use at sea should no longer have discs (unless they are old flags still in use). The question of discs of red ensigns is more complex as the size and placement of badges is usually specified in the Statutory Instrument that creates them and it is not clear whether the long standing MoD/Admiralty power over the size and placement of badges can be used to alter a flag created by a Statutory Instrument.

Now some people (mainly vexillologists) are unhappy that the MoD made this unilateral decision without consulting them, thereby discarding over a hundred years of arguments of disc or no disc! Some flag manufacturers are unhappy because some of their customers will want the new designs and some will still want the white discs.
Graham Bartram, 6 July 2000

List of colonial badge types

Readers might be interested in some lists that I made of official British colonial type badges as used on ensigns and Union Jacks, arranged roughly by type, and approximate date of introduction.
I grouped them in four separate lists, GB Defacements:
1865 - 1879. Early designs; mainly seals.
1880 - 1900. Remaining years to 1900; a mixed batch.
1901 - 1945. Twentieth Century to Second World War; mainly arms and simple pictures.
1946 - Second World War onwards.
I have not checked them recently so any corrections or additions would be welcome.
David Prothero, 8 April 2005

1865 - 1879. Early designs; mainly seals.

1880 - 1900. Remaining years to 1900; a mixed batch.

1946 - Second World War onwards.