Isle of Man: Civil ensign (original) (raw)

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[ [Manx civil ensign] ](../images/i/im~man.gif)1:2 image by Martin Grieve, 12 September 2004

About the Flag

This is the official civil ensign for the Isle of Man. The three conjoined legs are the "triskelion", the symbol of Man. The land flag for the Isle of Man is red with the triskelion in the centre (no union flag).
Graham Bartram, 7 December 1996.

The defaced Red Ensign which was abolished in 1935 and restored by a royal proclamation on 18 September 1971.
Pascal Vagnat, 25 September 1998.

Until 1968 the only official British flag that related to the Isle of Man was that of the Lieutenant Governor. This was the Union Flag defaced in the centre by a gold trinacria on a red shield on a white disc surrounded by a laurel leaf garland. The land flag, a gold trinacria on a red flag, was authorised 9 July 1968. The Red Ensign was authorised on 27 August 1971. Any Isle of Man Red Ensigns before this date were probably based on the not uncommon misconception that badges on Union Flags, Red Ensigns and Blue Ensigns are interchangeable.
David Prothero, 13 August 1999

Barraclough and Crampton say on p.49: "On 18 September 1971 the Manx Red Ensign was restored for use by all ships registered in the Isle of Man" but infuriatingly give no other details. None of my other books mention a previous Manx Red Ensign.
Roy Stilling, 13 August 1999

I received from the Isle of Man Marine administration a CD telling all about Isle of Man Ship Registry. On the CD are a couple of photos of different ships specifically using the Isle of Man red ensign as a jack. Can anyone comment on this practice?
Clay Moss, 3 August 2006

Pedersen (1970) also shows the merchant ensign, a red ensign with the Union Flag in the canton and a clockwise triskelion, with its centre in the middle of the fly half taking up most of that fly half.

Before that? Flaggenbuch (1992) shows the badge only for the Governor of the Isle of Man. In Fahnen und Flaggen (1939), however, Neubecker shows a Red Ensign with a Saint George cross in a, squarish, canton and the field filled with a yellow counter-clockwise triskelion. The shape of the emblem is a bit odd, as if the upper leg was move to make room for the canton. The text gives this as an 18th century example of flags with a governmental canton.

Siegel - Die Flagge (1912) also shows for the Isle of Man a Red Ensign with a Saint George cross in a, squarish, canton and the field filled with a similar, yellow, triskelion with in this case one clockwise foot and two counter-clockwise. For this 18th century flag, he gives the usual sources: Kieboom, Recueil and Bowles.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 25 November 2010

Norie and Hobbs (1848) version

[ [Manx civil ensign] ](../images/i/im~noh48.gif)image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 24 May 2007

Norris and Hobbs (1848) describes a Civil Ensign, but with a triskelion with reverse rotation.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 24 May 2007