What is that flag?

Flying July 16 to July 24, 2009.

2009-07-15T07:45:00.012+01:00

Today you will see the Stars and Stripes flying with the flag of the state of Ohio, and these will fly in Vernon Street from July 16 to July 24 to celebrate the United States NASA Apollo 11 mission, “the first man on the moon”, in 1969. The home state of the commander, Neil Armstrong, was Ohio, so this gives me the perfect excuse to fly the attractive and unusual Ohio flag, in tandem.

Described as a pennant, the Ohio burgee is properly a swallowtail design. It was adopted in 1902. Unique in shape it is uncomplicated in design. The union of the flag is populated with seventeen white stars. Those that are grouped around the circle represent the thirteen original colonies. The four stars found at the apex of the triangle combine with the stars of the thirteen original colonies to total seventeen. Ohio was the seventeenth state to enter the union.

Vernon Street, Derby, July 16, 2009.

Apollo 11

The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon.

It was the fifth human spaceflight of Project Apollo and the third human voyage to the Moon. It was also the second all-veteran crew in manned spaceflight history. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.

The mission fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s, which he expressed during a speech given before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

It seems to me quite amazing that extraordinary event in 1969 was 40 years ago now, the year I left school after sitting my A levels just a few days before. I spent the summer in the USA touring on Greyhound buses, arriving in New Canaan, Connecticut, at the home of my cousins, with minutes to spare to watch the landing live on TV.

The Saturn V carrying Apollo 11 took several seconds to clear the tower on July 16, 1969

A condensation cloud forms around an interstage as the Saturn V approached Mach 1, one minute into the flight

The Eagle in lunar orbit immediately after separating from Columbia

Aldrin unpacks experiments from the LEM, named Eagle.

Aldrin salutes U.S. Flag

Buzz Aldrin poses on the Moon allowing Neil Armstrong to photograph both of them using the visor's reflection

Apollo 11 crewmen await pickup by helicopter following splashdown, July 24 1969.

Left to right: Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin

Italy................................................................. New Jersey

Collins and Aldrin were born in 1930 respectively in Rome, Italy, (to US Army officer father), and New Jersey. Here are two respective appropriate flags from my collection, Italy and New Jersey. The pre-1946 Italian flag is one of the prizes of my collection. It is old fine linen and huge, and was sold to me on Ebay by someone who thought it was an Italian football club flag !!

Did it really happen?

There is some controversy that the whole thing was faked by NASA on behalf of a desperate US Government and the CIA. To make up your mind, watch this clip:

Correct way to fold the Stars and stripes:

Flying Wednesday July 15, 2009.

2009-07-14T07:45:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, July 14, may have been France’s big day, Bastille Day, but today is the anniversary of the end of the road for French tyrant Napoleon Bonaparte who, on July 15 1815, demanded political asylum from the British aboard HMS Bellerophon. He was exiled to the island of Saint Helena, and it is the Saint Helena flag I am flying today.

Saint Helena

Saint Helena is an island of volcanic origin and a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean. The territory of Saint Helena consists of both the island of Saint Helena, and also the dependencies of Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha.

The island has a history of over 500 years since it was first discovered as an uninhabited island by the Portuguese in 1502. It is Britain's second oldest remaining colony (after Bermuda), and is is one of the most isolated islands in the world. It was for several centuries of vital strategic importance to ships sailing to Europe from Asia and South Africa. For several centuries, the British used the island as a place of exile, most notably for Napoleon Bonaparte, Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo (Zulu king) and over 5,000 Boer prisoners.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte (was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence under the First French Republic and led successful campaigns against the First and Second Coalitions arrayed against France. In 1799, he staged a coup d'état and installed himself as First Consul; five years later he crowned himself Emperor of the French. In the first decade of the nineteenth century, he turned the armies of the French Empire against every major European power and dominated continental Europe through a series of military victories. He maintained France's sphere of influence by the formation of extensive alliances and the appointment of friends and family members to rule other European countries as French client states.

The French invasion of Russia in 1812 marked a turning point in Napoleon's fortunes. His Grande Armée was badly damaged in the campaign and never fully recovered. In 1813, the Sixth Coalition defeated his forces at Leipzig; the following year the Coalition invaded France, forced Napoleon to abdicate and exiled him to the island of Elba. Less than a year later, he escaped Elba and returned to power, but was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. Napoleon spent the last six years of his life under British supervision on the island of Saint Helena. An autopsy concluded he died of stomach cancer, though other scientists have since conjectured that he was poisoned with arsenic.

The conflict with the rest of Europe led to a period of total war across the continent and his campaigns are studied at military academies the world over. While considered a tyrant by his opponents, he is also remembered for the establishment of the Napoleonic code, which laid the administrative and judicial foundations for much of Western Europe.

Battle of Waterloo

Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium: Forces of the French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte were defeated by those of the Seventh Coalition, including an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington and a Prussian army. It was the decisive battle of the Waterloo Campaign and Bonaparte's last. The defeat at Waterloo put an end to Napoleon's rule as the French emperor, and marked the end of Napoleon's Hundred Days of return from exile in Elba.

Duke of Wellington at Waterloo

According to Wellington, the battle was "the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life."

Duke of Wellington

Napoleon delayed giving battle until noon on 18 June to allow the ground to dry. Wellington's army, positioned across the Brussels road on the Mont St Jean escarpment, withstood repeated attacks by the French, until, in the evening, the Prussians arrived in force and broke through Napoleon's right flank. At that moment, Wellington's Anglo-allied army counter-attacked and drove the French army in disorder from the field. Pursuing Coalition forces entered France and restored Louis XVIII to the French throne. Napoleon abdicated, surrendering to the British aboard HMS Bellerophon

Scene in Plymouth Sound in August 1815. HMS Bellerophon is at the centre of the picture, surrounded by crowds of people in small boats who have come to see Napoleon.

Napoleon aboard HMS Bellerophon

Grenadier Guards, Waterloo Medal and Private Simon Stainsby

I have in my possession, passed down through my family, a Waterloo Medal. This is the first medal ever to be issued to all soldiers present at an action.

The story that accompanies it is that it was given to my grand-mother (I suspect this may be my great grandmother) by a house maid, for safe keeping, and never re-claimed, and that it had belonged to the maid's brother. It was also passed down that the name on the medal edge was wrong, it reads "SIMON STANISBY" and the family name was actually "Stainsby". His regiment is marked as "2nd BAT. GRENA. GUARDS".

The Grenadier Guards recruit in Derby to this day, and I wonder if this dates back to a connection with the Derbyshire Militia.

In 1978 I checked this name error story with the Regimental archives officer, and indeed his name was Stainsby.

He was (quoting the regimental reply):

"No. 199 Simon Stainsby.

Enlisted in Grenadier Guards on 7 December 1815* aged 18 at Dover from the Derby[shire] Militia.

(*My Note: This is likely wrong and likely should have read 1813, see "Derbyshire Militia: Enlistments into the Regular Army at Dover, December 1813" )

Height 5' 9"

Complexion: Dark

Eyes: Hazel

Hair: Black

Trade: Frame work knitter

Born: St Mary in the County of Derbyshire

Service abroad: France 1814, Waterloo and Paris 1815, Army of occupation 1816-1818."

"He remained a Private for all of his service which was due to a rather irregular career which I will not disclose and was discharged on 12 November 1835 aged 40 years suffereing from chronic catarrh, palpitaions and rheumatism with a pension of 1s/1d per day"

Now that Derby Mercury newspaper is on-line, and can be accessed and searched on-line (an amazing tool, if you are a Derbyshire Library cardholder), I was able to find Simon Stainsby, as a Waterloo Pensioner, attending a dinner given by the Derby Rifle Corps, at the Royal Hotel, Derby, in a report of June 20, 1860. (Note: Grenadier Guards=First or Grenadier Regiment of Footguards)

Grenadier Guards today

Flying Tuesday July 14, 2009.

2009-07-13T07:45:00.003+01:00

The flag flying in Vernon Street today will be more easily recognisable than usual. It is the national flag of France (known in French as drapeau tricolore, drapeau français, and in military parlance, les couleurs). Today July 14 is Bastille Day.

Bastille Day is the French national holiday, celebrated on 14 July each year. In France, it is called Fête Nationale ("National Celebration") in official parlance, or more commonly le quatorze juillet ("14 July"). It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789; the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern nation, and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic, during the French Revolution.

Prise de la Bastille, by Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houel

The Fête de la Fédération of the 14 July 1790 was a huge feast and official event to celebrate the uprising of the short-lived constitutional monarchy in France and what people considered the happy conclusion of the French Revolution.

Other matters on Batille Day

Bastille Day falls during the Tour de France and is traditionally a day when French riders try to take a stage victory for France, working harder than they might on other days.

The Constitution of France gives the President the authority to pardon offenders. President Sarkozy declined to continue the practice. Sarkozy vowed to clean areas of Paris "with a Kärcher" (nettoyer la cité au Kärcher), referring to a well-known German brand of pressure cleaning equipment, and two days before the 2005 Paris riots he referred to the criminal youth of the housing projects as voyous (thugs) and racaille, a slang term which can be translated into English as rabble, scum or riff-raff.

Listen to La Marseillaise, the French National Anthem, on Youtube:

Flying Monday July 13, 2009.

2009-07-12T07:45:00.000+01:00

Today I am flying the flag of Mongolia. It is currently the Mongolian holiday and Festival of Naadam.

The current flag of Mongolia was adopted on February 12, 1992. It is similar to the flag of 1949, except for the removal of the socialist star.

The previous flag.

It has three equal, vertical bands of red (hoist side), blue, and red. Centered on the hoist-side red band in yellow is the national emblem (the Soyombo symbol - a columnar arrangement of abstract and geometric representations of fire, sun, moon, earth, water, and the Taijitu or Yin-Yang symbol).

Taijitu (a Chinese word that translates roughly as 'diagram of ultimate power') is a term which refers to any of the Chinese symbols for the concept of yin and yang (Taiji), and is sometimes extended to similar geometric patterns used historically by various cultures. The most recognized form is composed of two semi-circular teardrop-shaped curves of different colors, or a circle separated by an S-shaped line, where each half is marked with a dot in the opposite (or different) color.

Naadam

Naadam is a traditional type of festival in Mongolia. The festival is also locally termed "eriin gurvan naadam" "the three games of men". The games are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery and are held throughout the country during the midsummer holidays. Women have started participating in the archery and girls in the horse-racing games, but not in Mongolian wrestling.

The biggest festival is held in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar during the National Holiday from July 11th – 13th, in the National Sports Stadium. Other cities and towns across Mongolia and those with significant Mongolian, have their own, smaller scale Naadam celebrations. It begins with an elaborate introduction ceremony featuring dancers, athletes, horse riders, and musicians. After the ceremony, the competitions begin.

Naadam is the most widely watched festival in the country, and is believed to have existed for centuries in one fashion or another. Naadam has its origin in the activities, such as military parades and sporting competitions such as archery, horse riding and wrestling, that followed the celebration of various occasions. Now it formally commemorates the 1921 revolution when Mongolia declared itself a free country.

The festival is also celebrated among ethnic Mongolians in the Inner Mongolia region of China and Mongolian communities overseas.

Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest city, is home to about 38% of the population. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.

The area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Gökturks, and others. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols returned to their earlier patterns. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. At the end of the 17th century, most of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle until 1921 to firmly establish de-facto independence, and until 1945 to gain international recognition. As a consequence, it came under strong Russian and Soviet influence: In 1924, the Mongolian People's Republic was declared, and Mongolian politics began to follow the same patterns as Soviet politics of the time. After the breakdown of communist regimes in Eastern Europe in late 1989, Mongolia saw its own Democratic Revolution in early 1990, which led to a multi-party system, a new constitution in 1992, and the - rather rough - transition to a market economy.

At 1,564,116 square kilometres, Mongolia is the nineteenth largest and most sparsely populated independent country in the world, with a population of around 2.9 million people. It is also the world's second-largest landlocked country after Kazakhstan. The country contains very little arable land, as much of its area is covered by steppes, with mountains to the north and west and the Gobi Desert to the south. Approximately 30% of the country's 2.9 million people are nomadic or semi-nomadic. The predominant religion in Mongolia is Tibetan Buddhism, and the majority of the state's citizens are of the Mongol ethnicity, though Kazakhs, Tuvans and other minorities also live in the country, especially in the west. About 20% of the population live off less than US$ 1.25 a day.

The Mongol Empire and Genghis Khan

In the chaos of the late twelfth century, a chieftain named Temüjin finally succeeded in uniting the Mongol tribes between Manchuria and the Altai Mountains. In 1206, he took the title Genghis Khan, and waged a series of military campaigns - renowned for their brutality and ferocity - sweeping through much of Asia, and forming the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous land empire in world history. Under his successors it stretched from present-day Poland in the west to Korea in the east, and from Siberia in the north to the Gulf of Oman and Vietnam in the south.

Two flags said to be associated with Ghenghis Khan

Flying Sunday July 12, 2009.

2009-07-11T07:45:00.000+01:00

July 12 2009 is the 30^th anniversary of the independence of Kiribati, formerly known as the Gilbert Islands. The Kiribati flag will fly in Vernon Street today and tomorrow. It is one of my favourite flags from my collection.

The Flag of Kiribatihas an upper half of red with a gold frigatebird flying over a gold rising sun, and the lower half is blue with three horizontal wavy white stripes to represent the ocean and the 3 island groups (Gilbert, Phoenix and Line Islands). The 17 rays of the sun represent the 16 Gilbert Islands and Banaba (former Ocean Island). The shield was designed by Sir Arthur Grimble in 1932 for the Gilbert and Ellice Islands British colony.

The former flag of the Gilbert Islands as a British Colony.

The shield was incorporated into the center of the fly half of a British Blue Ensign as the state ensign of the colony. Shortly before independence was granted in 1979, a local competition was held to choose a new national flag, and a design based on the colonial coat of arms was submitted to the College of Arms. The College of Arms decided to modify this design. Both the golden frigate bird and the sun were enlarged to occupy more of the top of the flag, and the width of the blue and white wavy bands was reduced. The local people, however, insisted on the original design, in which the top and bottom halves of the flag were equal, the sun and local frigate bird small, and the various design elements outlined in black. The new flag was hoisted during the independence day celebrations in the capital, Tarawa, on July 12, 1979.

Geography

Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. It is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3,500,000 square kilometres, (1,351,000 square miles) straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line to the east. The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of "Gilberts", derived from the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands.

The Gilbert Islands became a British protectorate in 1892 and a colony in 1915; they were captured by the Japanese in the Pacific War in 1941. The islands of Makin and Tarawa were the sites of major US amphibious victories over entrenched Japanese garrisons in 1943. The Gilbert Islands were granted self-rule by the UK in 1971 and complete independence in 1979 under the new name of Kiribati. The US relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix and Line Island groups in a 1979 treaty of friendship with Kiribati.

Kiribati has few natural resources and is one of the least developed Pacific Islands. Commercially viable phosphate deposits were exhausted at the time of independence from the UK in 1979. Copra and fish now represent the bulk of production and exports. The economy has fluctuated widely in recent years. Economic development is constrained by a shortage of skilled workers, weak infrastructure, and remoteness from international markets. Tourism provides more than one-fifth of GDP. Private sector initiatives and a financial sector are in the early stages of development. Foreign financial aid from the EU, UK, US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UN agencies, and Taiwan accounts for 20-25% of GDP. Remittances from seamen on merchant ships abroad account for more than $5 million each year. Kiribati receives around $15 million annually for the government budget from an Australian trust fund.

Flying Saturday July 11, 2009.

2009-07-10T07:45:00.002+01:00

Today I am fling the flag of Washington DC

The link to the day is rather tenuous, and I will not dwell on it too much, but the Battle of Fort Stevens was fought on July 11-12 1864 in the American Civil War in Northwest Washington, D.C. The battle is noted for the personal presence of President Abraham Lincoln observing the fighting.

Officers and men of Company F, 3rd Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, in Fort Stevens

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790. The City of Washington was originally a separate municipality within the Territory of Columbia until an act of Congress in 1871 effectively merged the City and the Territory into a single entity called the District of Columbia. It is for this reason that the city, while legally named the District of Columbia, is known as Washington, D.C.

The city is located on the north bank of the Potomac River and is bordered by the states of Virginia to the southwest and Maryland to the other sides. The District has a resident population of 591,833; however, because of commuters from the surrounding suburbs, its population rises to over one million during the workweek. The Washington Metropolitan Area, of which the District is a part, has a population of 5.3 million, the ninth-largest metropolitan area in the country.

Washington DC landmarks

The flag

For over a century, the District of Columbia was without an official flag and flew several unofficial banners—usually the flag of the D.C. National Guard. In 1938, Congress established a commission to choose an official, original design., resulting in this flag (which had first been proposed in 1921).

The Flag of the District of Columbia consists of three red stars above two red bars on a white background. It is based on the design of the coat of arms of the family of George Washington. George Washington (1732 -1799) was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and served as the first President of the United States of America (1789–1797). For his essential roles in both war and peace, he is often referred to as the father of the USA.

The coat of arms of George Washington, President of the United States of America from 1789 to 1797, were first used to identify the family in the twelfth century, when one of George Washington's ancestors took possession of Washington Old Hall, then in County Durham, in north-east England.

Washington Old Hall, County Durham, England.

The Washington Window in Selby Abbey, in the English market town of Selby, contains a variant of the Washington coat of arms in the original 14th century stained glass. It is thought to be a benefaction to the abbey to commemorate John Wessington, Prior of Durham (1416–1446).

The Washington family coat of arms in 14th century stained glass at Selby Abbey, England.

The Washington coat of arms can also be seen at the parish church in Garsdon, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, where a branch of the family moved in Tudor times.

The design is often said to have inspired the Stars and Stripes, but there remain too many other explations for the origin of the Stars and Stripes for it to be explored further in this modest blog.

Flying Thursday July 10, 2009.

2009-07-09T07:45:00.012+01:00

California, and Death Valley

I am flying the state flag of California today. On this day, July 10, 1913, the temperature in Death Valley, California, USA was recorded at 134 °F (56.7 °C), the highest ever recorded in the United States.

The Lone Star on the flag: In 1836, Juan Alvarado and Isaac Graham led a revolution against Mexican rule. During this first revolt, rebels were able to capture Monterey and declared California "a free and sovereign state". Their rebellion failed to secure independence for California, but it inspired the design of flag of the Bear Flag Revolt, the Lone Star Flag of California contained a single red star on a white backround.

The original Grizzly Bear Flag was raised for the first time Sonoma, California in June 1846 by the men who became known as the "Bear Flaggers". A US Naval Lieutenant John Missroon reported the flag's existence as of June 17, 1846. California had been part of Mexico since Mexican independence in 1821 as the department of Alta California, and under the control of Spain for many years before that.

The "California Republic"proclaimed by settlers in, 1846, in Sonoma actually lasted less than a month, but is retained on the flag.

Death Valley

Death Valley is the lowest, dryest, and hottest location in North America. Badwater, a basin located within Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 ft (85.5 m ) below sea level. This point is a mere 76 miles (123 km) east of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States.

Mount Whitney 14,505 feet (4,421 m) above sea level.

Death Valley holds the record for the highest reliably reported temperature in the Western hemisphere, 134°F (56.7°C) at Furnace Creek in 1913—just short of the world record, which was 136°F (58°C) in Al 'Aziziyah, Libya, on September 13, 1922.

Death Valley, 282 ft (85.5 m ) below sea level.

Located on the border between California and Nevada, southeast of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert, Death Valley constitutes much of Death Valley National Park and is the principal feature of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve. It is located mostly in Inyo County, California. It runs from north to south between the Amargosa Range on the east and the Panamint Range on the west; the Sylvania Mountains and the Owlshead Mountains form its northern and southern boundaries, respectively. It has an area of about 3,000 sq mi (7,800 km2). Death Valley shares many characteristics with other places around the world that lie below sea level.

Drag the cursor in this photo below to see a panorama of Death Valley

Flying Thursday July 9, 2009.

2009-07-09T07:45:00.009+01:00

New England. USA.

July 9 is one of those days I cannot find an anniversary to relate to a flag in my collection. A new reader to my blog is my cousin John Loring in Boston, Massachusetts, so what better than to fly my New England flag? It was actually a vist from John a few years ago that started my interest in flags. I bought a Massachusetts state flag to fly when he visited Derby, and my collection followed from there!

Flag of New England, 1686-c.1707?

New England is the north east corner of the United States, now comprising the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. This region was originally inhabited by several Amerindian tribes; later it was the site of some of the earliest European settlements in North America.

The flag is based on the red naval ensign of the Royal Navy, which featured the cross of St. George in the canton (the above flag without the pine tree). The ensign was used at both the Jamestown (now In Virginia) and Plymouth (Massachusetts) colonies.

Puritans in New England, led by Roger Williams, objected to the use of a Christian cross on their flag, and for a time flew a red flag with a plain white canton.

The cross-less New England version.

The cross-less flag first appeared in 1634 in Salem, but some considered it to be an act of rebellion against England. The cross-less flags became popular in New England, and militia companies designed unique patterns on their flags. In 1665, the Royal Commissioners recommended that all ships and militia companies be ordered to fly "the true colours of England, by which they may be knowne to be his majesties legitimate subjects." Nevertheless, some cross-less flags were still in use as late as 1680.

New Englanders continued to look for ways to represent their country, however. In 1684, the town of Newbury, Massachusetts, though retaining the Cross of St George, changed to a green flag.

The Newbury, Mass, version

A pine tree was added to some flags during the reign of King James II, possibly inspired by the pine-tree shilling which was minted in Massachusetts. In 1707, a proclamation was issued that all merchant vessels fly the red ensign with the British Union in the canton.

Red ensign with the British Union in the canton, and added pine.

The Pine Tree Shilling

As early as 1650, the colony of Massachusetts Bay was a commercial success. But an inadequate supply of money put its future development in jeopardy. England was not inclined to send gold and silver coins to the colonies, for they were in short supply in the mother country.

Taking matters into their own hands, Boston authorities allowed two settlers, John Hull and Robert Sanderson, to set up a mint in the capital in 1652. The two were soon striking silver coinage - shillings, sixpences, and threepences. Nearly all of the new coins bore the same date: 1652.

This was the origin of America's most famous colonial coin, the pine tree shilling. The name comes from the tree found on the obverse. It may symbolize one of the Bay Colony's prime exports, pine trees for ships' masts. Massachusetts coinage not only circulated within that colony, but was generally accepted throughout the Northeast, becoming a monetary standard in its own right.

A further "Pine Tree" origin explanation.

The history of the Pine Tree as a symbol of New England probably predates the european colonial settlements. In eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire and the southern corner of Maine, there once lived a nomadic tribe known as the Penacook. "Penacook" is an Algonquin word meaning "Children of the Pine Tree." The Penacook people have been credited with teaching the Pilgrims, those settlers of the Plymouth Colony of Eastern Massachusetts, much needed survival skills when the colonists were starving to death during the winter of 1621-22. The forests surrounding the settlement were teeming with game and wild foods unfamiliar to the Pilgrims and it was the Penacooks who showed them these new things.

Bunker Hill

See also my blog of the flag of the battle of Bunker Hill. on June 17th.

Flying Wednesday July 8, 2009.

2009-07-07T07:45:00.000+01:00

I am flying the Portugese flag today. On 8 July 1497 Dom Vasco da Gama set sail as commander of a fleet of four ships, the first to sail directly from Europe to India.

Dom Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueiraca. (born either 1460 or 1469, died 1524 in Kochi, India) was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the European Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India.

Vasco da Gama

On 8 July 1497 a fleet under his command, consisting of four ships and a crew of 170 men, left Lisbon. The vessels were:

The São Gabriel, commanded by Vasco da Gama; The São Rafael, whose commander was his brother Paulo da Gama; The caravel Berrio, and a storage ship of unknown name later lost near the Bay of São Brás, along the east coast of Africa.

The fleet arrived in Calicut on 20 May 1498. Negotiations with the local ruler, the Zamorin of Calicut, occasionally took on a violent nature. Efforts by Gama and the Portuguese to obtain favorable trade terms were complicated by resistance from indigenous Arab merchants. Eventually Gama was able to gain an ambiguous letter of concession for trading rights, but he had to depart without giving notice of his intention to do so after the Zamorin insisted that Gama leave all his goods as collateral. Vasco da Gama kept his goods, but left a few Portuguese with orders to start a trading post.

Vasco da Gama lands at Calicut, May 20, 1498.

Pictures of the "Sao Gabriel" (bottom right), "Sao Rafael", and "Berrio" are by Visconde de Juromenha done around 1558 after a painting made on order by D. Jorge Cabral, Governor of India, 1549-50.

Examples of modern caravels, square riggeds and lanteen rigged.

Map of the Portuguese Empire during the reign of John III (1502–1557).

Flying Tuesday July 7; 2009.

2009-07-06T07:45:00.000+01:00

The state flag of Missouri is flying in Vernon street today, July 7. What extraordinary event could possibly be celebrated? Maybe the greatest thing since sliced bread?

The Flag of the State of Missouri was designed and stitched in Jackson, Missouri, by Marie, the wife of former State Senator R.B. Oliver. Her design was adopted in 1913.

Sliced Bread !

Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa invented the first loaf-at-a-time bread-slicing machine.

A prototype he built in 1912 was destroyed in a fire, and it was not until 1928 that Rohwedder had a fully working machine ready. The first commercial use of the machine was by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri, which produced their first slices on July 7, 1928. Their product, "Kleen Maid Sliced Bread", proved a success.

During 1943, U. S. officials imposed a short-lived ban on sliced bread as a wartime conservation measure.

On January 26, 1943, a letter appeared in the New York Times from a distraught housewife:

...............“I should like to let you know how important sliced bread is to the morale and saneness of a household. My husband and four children are all in a rush during and after breakfast. Without ready-sliced bread I must do the slicing for toast—two pieces for each one—that's ten. For their lunches I must cut by hand at least twenty slices, for two sandwiches apiece. Afterward I make my own toast. Twenty-two slices of bread to be cut in a hurry!”

Don’t you just feel so sorry for US housewives?

Nice!!............. But then I suppose it is preferable to slicing it oneself ?

Flying Sunday and Monday, July 5-6, 2009.

2009-07-04T07:45:00.001+01:00

Today and tomorrow I am flying the Maori Flag of Tino Rangatiratanga.

Some months ago my sister-in-law, in Wellington NZ, very kindly sent me a gift of a flag of Tino Rangatiratanga for my collection. I have flown it a couple of times, but not being tuned in to Maori culture and events and anniversaries etc, I was reprimanded by her for not having flown it recently on the annual Maori cultural festival of Matariki which commenced in June. Sorry Deborah ! I have now done my research.

This is the Maori Independence (Tino Rangatiratanga) movement’s flag. The symbolism of the flag is said to be as follows:

BLACK represents Te Korekore (the realm of potential being). It thus symbolises the long darkness from which the earth emerged, as well as signifying Rangi - the heavens, a male, formless, floating, passive force.

RED represents Te Whei Ao (coming into being). It symbolises Papatuanuku, the earth-mother, the sustainer of all living things, and thus both the land and active forces.

WHITE represents Te Ao Marama (the realm of being and light). It symbolises the physical world, purity, harmony, enlightenment and balance.

The spiral-like KORU, symbolic of a curling fern frond, represents the unfolding of new life, hope for the future and the process of renewal.

Matariki, Maori festival, May to July.

In the Māori language Matariki is the name of the Pleiades star cluster, which was important for agriculture in establishing the correct time to plant crops.

The first rising of the Pleiades and of Rigel (another star) occurs just prior to sunrise in late May or early June, and this indicates that the old year has ended and the new year has begun. The actual time for celebrating Matariki varies, depending on the iwi (tribe or clan). Some iwi celebrate it immediately. Others wait until the rising of the next full moon, or alternatively the dawn of the next new moon. It has become common practice for various private and public institutions to celebrate Matariki over the period of a week or month anywhere from early June to late July. Other iwi used the rising of Rigel in a similar way.

In traditional times, Matariki was a season to celebrate and to prepare the ground for the coming year. Offerings of the produce of the land were made to the gods, including Rongo, god of cultivated food. This time of the year was also a good time to instruct young people in the lore of the land and the forest. In addition, certain birds and fish were especially easy to harvest at this time. Matariki is now celebrated as a cultural festival of many local events over a number of weeks in June and July.

Some other Maori History

Yesterday I was chatting on line with Brett Payne in Tauranga, NZ. He has an excellent blog Photo-Sleuth which I follow, and also a web site Derbyshire Photographers. Brett had actually been to The Auckland War Memorial Museum (or simply the Auckland Museum) one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. He had photographed a flag there, and he sent me an image as a challenge for me to solve:

My first thoughts were that, with the juxtaposition of the new moon, star and cross, (southern cross I wondered?), I would give my first guess as a Matariki festival flag. I was wrong. A little more searching, and I found this image below, which appeared to be a closely related flag:

(Aotearoa, a Maori name for the lands that comprise New Zealand.)

This image was of a Maori woman, Heni Te Kirikaramu also known as Heni Pore or Jane Foley, and discovering her led me to a story of warfare, the story of the battle of Gate Pā.

Gate Pā

Gate Pā was the name of a Māori Pā or fortress built in 1864 (3 miles from the main British base of Camp Te Papa at Tauranga, during the Tauranga Campaign of the New Zealand Land Wars. The name pā comes from its appearance, the palisade looked like a picket fence while a higher part in the middle resembled a gate.

The pā was built at the instigation of Chief Rawiri Puhirake of Ngai Te Rangi, on the edge of land owned by Māori, where missionaries had erected a gate between the Māori and colonial settlers. Puhirake believed British reprisal for his support of the King Movement during the Waikato War was inevitable, so he constructed Gate Pa for protection. This failed to rouse the British so he began sending taunts, declaring he had built a road from the British camp to the pā, "so that the British would not be too tired to fight".

General Duncan Cameron, whose Invasion of the Waikato had ground to a halt, determined to attack the pā with the majority of his forces to destroy the King Movement's allies. By the end of April the British were ready to attack, with 1,700 men, opposed by 230 Māori. British troops included the 68th Durham Light Infantry and 43rd Monmouth Light Infantry.

A heavy bombardment was begun at daybreak on 29 April 1864 and continued for eight hours. The British had 15 artillery pieces including one of 110 pounds (50 kg). By mid afternoon the pā looked as if it had been demolished and there was a large breach in the center of the palisade. At 4 pm the barrage was lifted and 300 troops were sent up to capture and secure the position.

The British forces suffered severe losses and retreated. There was no second assault. During the night the Māori gave assistance to the wounded and collected their weapons, and by day break they had abandoned the position. Gate Pā was the single most devastating defeat suffered by the British military in the whole of the New Zealand land wars, with 111 casualities and deaths.

Gate Pā was not quite what it appeared to be. From the British positions it looked like fairly large strongpoint occupying the entire hill top. In fact it was much smaller being two low redoubts on either side of the ridge joined by a deep trench about 40 m long and the whole shielded by a strong wooden palisade. It seems likely that British concentrated their barrage towards the centre, where the palisade collapsed and where the assault was made. Meanwhile the two redoubts had been built very strongly with deep and effective bomb proof shelters. The Māori may have been deafened by the bombardment but as soon as it ended they were able to ambush the British troops.

Jane Foley and Gate Pā

An often retold tale of the battle concerns that night. The wounded, including Lieutenant Colonel Henry Booth of the 43rd Monmouth Light Infantry, lay in the pa calling for water. And water was indeed given to them, not by the soldiers, but, so the story goes, by a young Maori woman, Heni Te Kirikaramu also known as Heni Pore or Jane Foley, whose compassion is remembered to this day. It must, however, be acknowledged that although Colonel Booth is said before he died to have told of a Maori woman who spoke English gave him water, and she too, made this claim some 30 years later, there are those who believe that it may have been Henare Taratoa who took pity on the wounded. It is he who is depicted on the monument to the dead of Gate Pa in the mission cemetery, and also in the window of Bishop Selwyn’s Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire, England. (The Right Reverend George Augustus Selwyn (1809–1878) was the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand. On his return to the UK he governed Lichfield. He died at the bishop's palace, Lichfield, and was buried in the grounds of Lichfield Cathedral.)

HMNZS Taupo

Whilst chatting on line to Brett Payne, informing him that I had by then solved the puzzle of the flag image he had sent me, we diverged at a tangent as we often do, when I mentioned that during the period of the Korean war my father in law, then a recently qualified medical student from Edinburgh, received a commission on the Royal New Zealand Navy, and was posted as medical officer aboard HMNZS Taupo, and he was based and sailed from Devonport, Auckland. Brett quickly came up with an extraordinary coincidence. Firstly a quick Googling of “Taupo” had turned up the fact that the RNZN had just taken delivery of a new HMNZS Taupo:

HMNZS TAUPO was accepted into the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) on 29 May 2009. Taupo will be used to operate around New Zealand's 200 Nautical Mile EEZ (Economic Exclusion Zone). It's secondary role will be sea training for members of the RNZN. Taupo will be based at Devonport Naval Base.

The second coincidence is that whilst he was visiting the Aukland Museum where he had photographed the flag he had sent to me, he had photographed a naval craft in the channel. He quickly downloaded it from his camera, and it seems almost certain that he had, just by luck, caught the new HMNZS Taupo:

I think my father-in-law is going to be delighted to receive these images as I doubt the news of this new ship has reached his County Durham , UK, home.

Flying Saturday July 4, 2009.

2009-07-03T05:00:00.003+01:00

Fourth of July............Stars and Stripes today!!

In the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, picnics, concerts, baseball games, political speeches and ceremonies, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Independence Day is the national day of the United States.

Listen to Stars and Stripes Forever", a patriotic American march widely considered to be the magnum opus of composer John Philip Sousa. By act of Congress, it is the National March of the United States of America. Click on the flag....

The flag of the United States consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars. The fifty stars on the flag represent the fifty U.S. states. It is sometimes said that the thirteen stripes represent the original thirteen colonies that rebelled against the British Crown and became the first states in the Union.

Nicknames for the flag include the Stars and Stripes, Old Glory, and The Star-Spangled Banner (also the name of the national anthem).

John Sousa

John Philip Sousa was born in Washington, D.C. on November 6, 1854 His parents were of Portuguese, Spanish, and Bavarian (German) descent; his grandparents were Portuguese refugees. Sousa started his music education by playing the violin at the age of six. When Sousa reached the age of 13, his father, a trombonist in the Marine Band, enlisted his son in the United States Marine Corps as an apprentice to keep him from joining a circus band. Sousa served his apprenticeship for seven.

The Sousaphone

The Sousaphone was developed in the 1890s by C.G. Conn at the request of John Philip Sousa, who was unhappy with the hélicons used at that time by the United States Marine Band.

Flying Friday July 3, 2009.

2009-07-02T07:45:00.007+01:00

Today, July 3 is the anniversary of that day in 1938 when the world speed record for a steam railway locomotive was set in England, by the Mallard, which reached a speed of 126 mph.(203 km/h). The designer grew up in Derbyshire, so the Derbyshire flag will fly.

The Derbyshire flag came about as a result of a feature on BBC Radio Derby in 2006. The flag, was unveiled on 22 September 2006.

Number 4468 Mallard is a London and North Eastern Railway Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive built at Doncaster, England in 1938. While in other respects a relatively typical member of its class, it is historically significant for being the holder of the world speed record for steam locomotives.

Mallard was designed by Sir Nigel Gresley as an express locomotive specially built to power high-speed streamlined trains. Its wind-tunnel-tested, aerodynamic body allowed it to reach speeds of over 100 mph (160 km/h). Mallard was in service until 1963, when it was retired, having covered almost one and a half million miles (2.4 million km).

Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley (19 June 1876 – 5 April 1941)

Gresley was born on 19th June 1876, the fifth child of the rector of Netherseal (present day Derbyshire), the Reverend Nigel Gresley.

He was raised in Netherseal, Derbyshire, a member of a family long seated at Gresley, Derbyshire. After attending school in Sussex and at Marlborough College, Gresley served his apprenticeship at the Crewe works of the London and North Western Railway, afterwards becoming a pupil under John Aspinall at Horwich of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR). After several minor appointments with the L&YR he was made Outdoor Assistant in the Carriage and Wagon Department in 1901; in 1902 he was appointed Assistant Works Manager at Newton Heath depot, and Works Manager the following year.

This rapid rise in his career was maintained, for in 1904 he became Assistant Superintendent of the Carriage and Wagon Department of the L&YR. A year later he moved to the Great Northern Railway (GNR) as Carriage and Wagon Superintendent. He succeeded Henry A. Ivatt as CME of the GNR on 1 October 1911. At the 1923 Grouping he was appointed CME of the newly-formed LNER (the post had originally been offered to the ageing John G. Robinson; Robinson declined and suggested the much younger Gresley), and in 1936 he was awarded a knighthood by King Edward VIII and an honorary DSc by Manchester University. During the 1930s Sir Nigel Gresley lived at Salisbury Hall, near St. Albans in Hertfordshire. In the moat Gresley developed an interest in breeding wild birds and ducks, intrigingly amongst the species were Mallard ducks! The Hall still exists today as the home of the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre.

In 1936 Gresley designed the 1500V DC locomotives for the proposed electrification of the Woodhead Line, which ran through north Derbyshire, between Manchester and Sheffield.

Gresley died after a short illness on 5 April 1941 and was buried in Netherseal, Derbyshire.

The LNER Class A3 Pacific locomotive no. 4472 "Flying Scotsman" (originally no. 1472) was built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) at Doncaster Works to a design of H.N. Gresley.

Finally.............

.............you would be wrong if you thought I did not look after my childhood Hornby 00 train set, circa 1958, with its own A4 4-6-2 Pacific loco, which still runs a dream, operated here by my daughter Fiona.

Post Script

The following letter appeared in The Times (London) on July 4, coincidentally:

From The Times

July 4, 2009

A fitting memorial for Gresley

Reader's letter appealing for grave of the designer of the Flying Scotsman to be restored proves successful

Flying Thursday, July 2, 2009.

2009-07-01T07:45:00.005+01:00

Today I am flying the Grand UnionFlag in Vernon St. This present heat wave does not provide good flag wind all day, so spot the flag in the afternoon when the thunder clouds are growing !

The Grand Union flag

In 2 days time, July 4, it will be Independence day in USA, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Today, July 2, might in other circumstrances have been celebrated as it was actually that day in 1776 that The Lee Resolution, also known as the resolution of independence, was approved by the Second Continental Congress declaring the Thirteen Colonies to be independent of the British Empire.

The Lee resolution: Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.

At the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, the United States had no official national flag. The Grand Union Flag has historically been referred to as the "First National Flag"

Although it has never had any official status, it was used early in the American Revolutionary War by George Washington and formed the basis for the design of the first official U.S. flag. The origins of the design are unclear. It closely resembles the British East India Company flag of the same era, and by some it is held that the Company flag indeed inspired the design. However, the Company flag could have from 9 to 13 stripes, and was not allowed to be flown outside the Indian Ocean.Both flags could have been easily constructed by simpy sewing white stripes to a British Red Ensign, a common flag throughout Britain and its colonies.

The British East India Company flag of the same era

Flying Wednesday, July 1, 2009.

2009-07-01T07:45:00.004+01:00

Today I am flying the National Flag of Canada in Vernon Street.

July 1 is Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada), formerly Dominion Day (French: Le Jour de la Confédération), frequently referred to as "Canada's birthday," the occasion marks the joining of the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec) on July 1, 1867. However, though Canada is regarded as having become a dominion in its own right on that date, the British Parliament at first kept limited rights of political control over the new country, which were shed by stages over the years until the last vestiges were ended in 1982, when the Constitution Act patriated the Canadian constitution. Canada Day thus differs from Independence Day celebrations in other countries in that it does not commemorate a clear-cut date of complete independence.

The recent flag history

In 1964, the Prime Minister of Canada informed its House of Commons that the government wished to adopt a new distinctive national flag, previous flags having been based upoin varying versions of the British Red Ensign. The 1967 centennial celebration of Confederation was, after all, approaching. As a result, a Senate and House of Commons Committee was formed and submissions were called for. Eventually this committee was left with three possible designs -- a Red Ensign with the fleur-de-lis and the Union Jack, a design incorporating three red maple leaves, and a red flag with a single, stylized red maple leaf on a white square.

One of the rejected designs of the 1964 proposals known as the Pearson Pennant

The committee eventually decided to recommend the single-leaf design, which was approved by resolution of the House of Commons on December 15, 1964, followed by the Senate on December 17, 1964, and proclaimed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, to take effect on February 15, 1965.

I have previously written about the more distant history of the Canadian flag on June 13, see:

http://vernonflag.blogspot.com/2009/06/flying-saturday-june-13-2009.html

Tuesday, June 30, 2009.

2009-06-29T23:16:00.008+01:00

The Flag of Scotland is a white saltire, a crux decussate (X-shaped cross) representing the cross of the Christian martyr Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, on a blue field. It is named the Saltire or the Saint Andrew's Cross.

Well done Andy Murray !! You deserve a rest today, and so do the rest of the UK for keeping us up watching Wimbledon until 10.40 pm .

Vernonflag is resting too, there will be no flag flying today!

Flying Monday June 29, 2009

2009-06-28T21:30:00.001+01:00

On June 29 1534 Jacques Cartier made the European discovery of Prince Edward Island. I am flying the Prince Edward Island flag today in Vernon Street.

The upper third of the flag features the English heraldic lion which appeared both on the coat of arms of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, for whom the province is named, and on that of King Edward VII. The lower two-thirds show an island on which appear three small oak saplings representing the three counties of PEI (Prince, Queens, and Kings) – under the protection of a great oak tree which represents Great Britain. This symbolism is also reflected in the provincial motto, Parva sub ingenti (the small under the protection of the great).

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent was the fourth son of King George III and the father of Queen Victoria. He served as Colonel of the 7th Royal Fusiliers. The Fusiliers were ordered to Canada in May 1791. In 1799 he was promoted to the rank of general and appointed the commander-in-chief of the forces in British North America. For most of this period he lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was instrumental in shaping that port's military defences for protecting the important Royal Navy base.

Prince Edward Island is located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence . The island has two urban areas. The largest surrounds Charlottetown Harbour, situated centrally on the island's southern shore, and consists of the capital city Charlottetown, and suburban towns Cornwall and Stratford and a developing urban fringe. A much smaller urban area surrounds Summerside Harbour, situated on the southern shore 40 km (25 mi) west of Charlottetown Harbour, and consists primarily of the city of Summerside.

Jacques Cartier (December 31, 1491–September 1, 1557) was a French explorer who claimed what is now Canada for France. He was the first European to describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named "The Country of Canadas", after the Iroquois names for the two big settlements he saw at Stadacona (Quebec City) and at Hochelaga (Montreal Island)

Jacques Cartier discovered the island in 1534. As part of the French colony of Acadia, the island was called "Île Saint-Jean". Roughly one thousand Acadians lived on the island. However, many fled to the island from mainland Nova Scotia during the British-ordered expulsion in 1755. Many more were forcibly deported in 1758 when British soldiers were ordered to capture the island.

Great Britain obtained the island from France under the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 which settled the Seven Years' War, calling the colony St. John's Island (also the Island of St. John's).

In September 1864, Prince Edward Island hosted the Charlottetown Conference, which was the first meeting in the process leading to the Articles of Confederation and the creation of Canada in 1867. Prince Edward Island did not find the terms of union favourable and balked at joining in 1867, choosing to remain a colony of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Charlottetown Conference

Prince Edward Island later entered Confederation on 1 July 1873. As a result of having hosted the inaugural meeting of Confederation, the Charlottetown Conference, Prince Edward Island presents itself as the "Birthplace of Confederation"

An unofficial Canadian Red Ensign from 1873 after Prince Edward Island joined Canada as the seventh province.

See also my blog of June 13 where I gave some more details of the evolution of the Canadian national flags. http://vernonflag.blogspot.com/2009/06/flying-saturday-june-13-2009.html

Flying Sunday June 28, 2009.

2009-06-27T23:45:00.003+01:00

Today is a day that no flag in my collection can be too easily related to the day so I am going to fly the flag of Derbyshire:

The introduction of the flag came about as a result of a feature on BBC Radio Derby in 2006. A listener who had noticed the prominent use of Saint Piran's Flag while visiting Cornwall wanted to know whether Derbyshire had an equivalent symbol. As no flag to represent the county existed, a campaign to design one with the aid of listeners' suggestions was launched. The finished flag, designed by Martin Enright from Derby, was unveiled on 22 September 2006. Readers will know I get upset when flags are flown upside down, the above image is correct, and the flag is not symmetrical along the horizontal axis, so can be flown upside down in error.

I can fly this flag as a tribute to the beauty of the countryside of Derbyshire. On Friday I took myself for a day’s hike between Bakewell and Buxton. I had dropped off my daughter and fellow classmates on a 3 day hike for their Duke of Edinburgh's Award, Silver Award, and I then took myself off to the Monsal Trail, an old railway long distance footpath that, when I was a child at school in Bakewell in 1959-1964, was the route of the mainline train from London to Manchester. It was, and still is as a footpath, one of the most spectacular lengths of track in the UK. It is extraordinary how well nature has reclaimed, indeed enhanced, what was fairly brutal work by the Victorian railway builders who cut through those dales.

Horse riders on the old track

View from Monsal Head. The former line goes through a number of tunnels, walkers now have to climb up and over the hills to re-join the track.

Cressbroook Mill

The millpond above Cressbrook Mill.

The river is full of brown trout !

Wild strawberries love to grow on the old limestone chippings of the track

Back up on the limestone plateau, looking north towards the moors of furthest north Derbyshire, Chapel-en-le- Frith and Hathersage.

The old Midland Pullman, the train I use to love to "spot" from my prep school in Bakewell circa 1962; it passed by morning and evening with it's Manchester businessmen heading to and from London.

The The Duke of Edinburgh's Award

The concept of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is simple – anyone aged between 14 and 24 can do a programme at one of three progressive levels which, when successfully completed, lead to a Bronze, Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. There are four sections at Bronze and Silver level and five at Gold. With assistance from adult Leaders, participants select and set objectives in each of the following areas:

Volunteering: undertaking service to individuals or the community.

Physical: improving in an area of sport, dance or fitness activities.

Skills: developing practical and social skills and personal interests.

Expedition: planning, training for and completion of an adventurous journey in the UK or abroad.

At Gold level, participants must do an additional fifth Residential section, which involves staying and working away from home doing a shared activity.

My daughter Alice, left, with school friends Bliss and Holly, on a dry run for their Bronze award in early 2008.

Flying Saturday June 27, 2009.

2009-06-26T07:45:00.001+01:00

Today is Armed Forces Day in the United Kingdom. I have selected the historical flag known as that of King Richard I, Richard the Lionheart. It will be flying in Vernon Street from 8 am !

Veterans' Day in the United Kingdom (UK) is an annual event celebrated on 27 June to commemorate the service of men and women in British Armed Forces. Veterans' Day was first observed in 2006. From 2009, there will now be Armed Forces Day celebrations held on the same day, to celebrate the achievements of those currently serving in the armed forces.

The flag of Richard I. Three leopards passant. In heraldic terms these are leopards, not lions. I am unable to establish how or if the colouring relates to King Richard, as often the leopards are shown against a red background.

Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Ireland, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was known as Cœur de Lion or, Richard the Lionheart, even before his accession, because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior.

This image of Richard is erroneously labelled as Edward. The coats of arms of the Duchy of Normandy and Duchy of Aquitaine, show the source of the three leopards passant.
At age 16, Richard was already commanding his own army, putting down rebellions in Poitou against his father, King Henry II. Richard was a central Christian commander during the Third Crusade, effectively leading the campaign after the departure of Philip Augustus, and scoring considerable victories against his Muslim counterpart, Saladin
While he spoke very little English and spent very little time in his Kingdom, preferring to use it as a source of revenue to support his armies, he was seen as a pious hero by his subjects. He remains one of the very few Kings of England remembered by his epithet, not number, and is an enduring, iconic figure in England.

In the early evening of 25 March 1199, Richard was walking around the perimeter of the Château de Chalus-Chabrol, a castle now in Haute-Vienne, France. He was without his chainmail, investigating the progress of sappers on the castle walls. Arrows were occasionally shot from the castle walls, but these were given little attention. One defender in particular amused the king greatly — a man standing on the walls, crossbow in one hand, the other clutching a frying pan which he had been using all day as a shield to beat off missiles. He deliberately aimed an arrow at the king, which the king applauded. However, another arrow then struck him in the left shoulder near the neck. He tried to pull this out in the privacy of his tent but failed; a surgeon, called a 'butcher' by Hoveden, removed it, 'carelessly mangling' the King's arm in the process. The wound swiftly became gangrenous. Accordingly, Richard asked to have the crossbowman brought before him; the man turned out to be a boy. This boy claimed that Richard had killed the boy's father and two brothers, and that he had shot Richard in revenge. The boy expected to be executed; Richard, as a last act of mercy, forgave the boy of his crime, saying, "Live on, and by my bounty behold the light of day," before ordering the boy to be freed and sent away with 100 shillings. Richard then set his affairs in order, bequeathing all his territory to his brother John and his jewels to his nephew Otto.

Richard's heart was buried at Rouen in Normandy. His brain was buried at the abbey of Charroux in Poitou, and the rest of his body was buried at the feet of his father at Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou.

Possibly one of the most seen Kings of England on the BBC TV News, Richard rides defiantly outside the Palace of Westminster.

The three leopards passant still appear on the shield of the coat of arms of Queen Elizabeth II, as shown here on the English £1 coin, and in part on the smaller coins, issued in 2008.

Flying Friday June 26, 2009.

2009-06-25T07:45:00.002+01:00

Eleanor of Provence died on 24/25 June 1291. She was Queen Consort of King Henry III of England from 1236 until his death in 1272.

I will fly a current flag of Provence, France, today.

Eleanor was born in Aix-en-Provence, she was the second eldest daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence (1198-1245) and Beatrice of Savoy (1205–1267), the daughter of Thomas I of Savoy and his second wife Marguerite of Geneva. All four of their daughters became queens. Like her mother, grandmother, and sisters, Eleanor was renowned for her beauty. She was a dark-haired brunette with fine eyes. On 22 June 1235, Eleanor was bethrothed to King Henry III of England (1207-1272). Eleanor was probably born in 1223; Matthew Paris describes her as being "jamque duodennem" (already twelve) when she arrived in the Kingdom of England for her marriage.

Provence: Described formally as "Azure a fleur-de-lis or and a label of three points gules"

Above is my flag. This is just one of two flags are used today to represent Provence, based on the two "traditional" arms of Provence. The other being:

Provence

This should not be confused with that of the north east Spanish Autonomous Region of Catalonia:

Catalonia

There is no evidence they were ever used either as the flag of the County of Provence or as the flag of the province of Provence within the Kingdom of France.

Today, the banners of those two arms are widely used in Provence, sometimes together. The Occitanists probably prefer the second Aragonese banner, which refers to the golden age of the Occitan, independent Provence. In the department of Vaucluse, several municipalities have added their name in Provencal on the road shields, which bear the Aragonese arms.

In my flag, the blue flag above, the arms are a simplification of the arms of Count of Provence Charles d'Anjou. In his Histoire de Provence, Nostradamus writes that the label has five points, but it seems that the label always had three points.

The current Provence

Flying Thursday June 25, 2009.

2009-06-25T01:00:00.002+01:00

Today is Statehood Day in Slovenia, the anniversary of the declaration of independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. I don’t have a Slovenian flag, and as this is a blog about flags, not a site for national back scratching or rubbing salt in wounds, I hope that flying the flag of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will not offend, at least in Vernon Street.

Above: The flag of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It consisted of three equal horizontal bands coloured in pan-Slavic colors - blue (top), white and red - with yellow bordered red star, symbol of communism, at the flag's centre. It was created during Second World War by replacing the royal coat of arms on the flag of pre-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia with the red star of communism. The first flag for Democratic Federal Yugoslavia had a red star in the centre stripe of the Yugoslav tricolour. After the war it was given its final shape by enlarging the star and adding a narrow yellow border.

The Republic of Slovenia is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north. The capital of Slovenia is Ljubljana. The current flag is as below.

The current flag of The Republic of Slovenia

Prior to 1991 the flag of Slovenia as within the Yugoslav Socialist Republic was similar to the flag of the Republic itself, but with blue and white reversed, as follows:

The flag of Slovenia as a Yugoslav Socialist Republic.

Slovenia has been part of the Roman Empire; partly the Republic of Venice; the principality Carantania (only modern Slovenia's northern part); the Holy Roman Empire; the Habsburg Monarchy; the Austrian Empire (later known as Austria-Hungary); the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs; the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (renamed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929); partly Kingdom of Italy; between the two World Wars occupied by Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Independent State of Croatia (1941–1945); and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1945 until independence in 1991.

Slovenia is a member of the European Union, the Eurozone, the Schengen area, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe and NATO.

Flying Wednesday June 24, 2009.

2009-06-24T07:45:00.009+01:00

Quebec: The National Holiday of Quebec is the National Holiday of the Canadian province of Quebec. A paid statutory public holiday covered by the Act Respecting Labour Standards, it is celebrated annually on June 24, St. John the Baptist Day.

La Fête nationale du Québec a lieu le 24 juin. Au Québec, ce jour est férié et chômé en vertu de la Loi sur la fête nationale. La fête nationale est souvent appelée la Saint-Jean-Baptiste ou la Saint-Jean pour des raisons historiques.

The Quebec flag, the Fleurdelisé, takes its white cross from the ancient royal flags of France and its white fleurs-de-lis and blue field from a banner honouring the Virgin Mary reputedly carried by French-Canadian militia at General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm's victory at Carillon (now Ticonderoga, New York). Contrary to popular belief, the fleurs-de-lis are not taken from the banner of the kings of France, who used golden fleurs-de-lis. The white fleurs-de-lis on Quebec's flag are symbols of purity, which originally represented the Virgin Mary.

La croix est un symbole chrétien. De couleur blanche, elle renvoie au catholicisme. Centrée et droite, elle est typique des anciens royaumes d’Europe occidentale. L'utilisation de croix blanches sur les drapeaux français remonte au XIIIe-XIVe siècle.

Comme pour le « Carillon », ancêtre direct du Fleurdelisé, le bleu symbolisait à l'origine la Vierge Marie. S’éloignant peu à peu de sa symbolique originelle, la couleur du drapeau est devenue nettement plus foncée au fil des années. Il est intéressant de noter que des drapeaux bleus à croix blanche sont attestés en France comme symboles militaires ou de la marine marchande dès le XVIe siècle.

Quebec is the only Canadian province and North American jurisdiction with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level.

Le Québec a un territoire d’une superficie de 1 667 441 km2 (soit 3 fois plus grand que la France) et une population de 7 744 530 habitants composée de divers groupes linguistiques et socio-culturels, dont onze nations autochtones. Sa langue officielle est le français, langue maternelle et d'usage de 80 % de la population.

Quebec was one of the first four provinces to form Canada under the Constitution Act, 1867, which brought about a Confederation of one Dominion under the name of Canada consisting of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. The coat of arms of Quebec formed part of the first Canadian Red Ensign, the then unofficial flag of Canada. It changed a number of times as more provinces and territories joined and by 1905 the shield on the Red Ensign had nine coats of arms of the current nine provinces represented on it.

Flying Tuesday June 23, 2009.

2009-06-23T07:45:00.007+01:00

Luxembourg: The Grand Duke's Official Birthday is celebrated as an annual national holiday in Luxembourg. It is celebrated on 23 June, although this has never been the actual birthday of any ruler of Luxembourg. So today you will see a Luxembourg flag flying in Vernon Street.

The official ensign for ships registered in Luxembourg

Henri Albert Gabriel Félix Marie Guillaume became Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg on November 12 1964 and was educated in Luxembourg and in France, where he obtained his baccalaureate in 1974. He then studied political sciences at University of Geneva, graduating in 1980. The Grand Duke also undertook military officer training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, England.

Henri Grand Duke of Luxembourg

Strictly the national flag of Luxembourg consists of three horizontal stripes, red, white and blue.

The national flag of Luxembourg

It was first used between 1845 and 1848 and officially adopted on June 23, 1972. Luxembourg had no flag until 1830, when patriots were urged to display the national colors. The flag was not officially adopted until 1972.

The red lion flag flown today is the official ensign for ships registered in Luxembourg. It is used for river and sea shipping, as well as for aviation. This flag is based on the Coat of arms of Luxembourg and is used as the ensign to avoid the possibility of Luxembourg's ensign being confused for that of the Netherlands. Ten white and blue stripes serve as the field for a red lion with a yellow tongue and crown.

The tricolor flag is almost identical to that of the Netherlands, except that it is longer and its blue stripe is a lighter shade.

The flag of the Netherlands, the blue being marginally darker, but confusing nonetheless.

There have been moves to replace the current red-white-blue national flag with the red lion ensign. It is argued that the current flag was commonly confused with that of the Netherlands and that the red lion on the other hand was more popular, more aesthetic and of greater historic value.

There has been reaction against this idea, and also a formal obstacle for replacing the flag could be that the neighbouring Belgian province of Luxembourg also uses a flag similar to the red lion flag. The State flag of the German state of Hesse also incorporates a very similar design.

The flag of the Belgian Province of Luxenbourg, and that of the German State of Hesse

Flying Monday June 22, 2009.

2009-06-22T07:45:00.003+01:00

Today is one of those days on which I am stumped to find a flag in my collection that I can relate to this day in history, so I have an excuse to fly what I like, and have chosen a flag I have not flown before. I bought it a couple of years ago on EBay, and it is a nice quality flag, of good durability, reasonably heavy, so I hope for a fair wind.

The flag is that of the Queens Award Industry, Export Award, and individual categories have been known in the past as The Queen's Awards for Export, Export Achievement, Technology, Technological Achievement and Environmental Achievement.

The award scheme has now been superseded by The Queen's Awards for Enterprise.

This is an awards programme for British businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation or sustainable development. They are the highest official UK awards for British businesses. The new scheme also includes an award for individuals, The Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion.

My career as an accountant was spent almost wholly in insolvency work, and it was always said that a Queen's Award gave a year’s flag waving, followed by liquidation. There is inevitably some truth in this. Business failure is a simple fact of life and more businesses fail in their first few years that succeed. This is even more the case amongst those who have the daring, skill, and knowledge to push the boundaries in commerce and industry.

Sadly I never found out to which business this flag belonged.

This Queen's Award for Technological Achievement was awarded in 1979 to the Department of Chemistry, Hull University, for work on the synthesis of liquid-crystalline materials in the 1970's which brought forth the first commercially viable liquid crystal materials for use in LCDs.

Flying Sunday June 21, 2009.

2009-06-21T07:45:00.005+01:00

On this day in 524 A.D., Godomar, King of the Burgundians (*) defeated (***) the Franks (**) at the Battle of Vézeronce. So today I will fly my Burgundy Cross.

*The Burgundians were an East Germanic tribe which may have emigrated from mainland Scandinavia to the island of Bornholm, whose old form in Old Norse still was Burgundarholmr (the Island of the Burgundians), and from there to mainland Europe.

** The Franks The Franks were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the 3rd century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. Under the Merovingian dynasty, they founded one of the Germanic monarchies which replaced the Western Roman Empire from the 5th century. The Frankish state consolidated its hold over large parts of western Europe by the end of the eighth century, developing into the Carolingian Empire and its successor states.

*** This may be wrong. It seems the Burgundians may have been defeated. It appears Sigismund, King of the Burgundians was captured, and put to death by the Frankish in revenge for the death in battle of Chlodomir, the leader of the Frankish army. Whatever the correct events, this is only about an excuse to fly a flag today !!

Burgundy as part of the Frankish Empire between 534 and 843

Spanish connection to the Burgundy Cross

The saltire was originally a Burgundian emblem, first introduced in Spain as the personal badge of Phillip the Handsome (Felipe el Hermoso), Duke of Burgundy and King Consort of Castile and Aragon, having married Joan of Castile and Aragon (daughter of the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Elizabeth). Joan and Phillip were the parents of Charles I of Spain, Charles V as German Emperor.

As such, the badge has been called in Spain "cross (or, more properly, saltire) of Burgundy" (cruz or aspa de Borgoña), even if the term "cross/saltire of St. Andrew" (cruz or aspa de San Andrés) has also been used — St. Andrew being the patron saint of the Duchy of Burgundy. The Burgundy Cross is nevertheless related to St. Andrew indeed, not through the patronage of a Spanish army branch, but through its Burgundian origin.

Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred by crucifixion. It is said that Andrew had been crucified on a cross of the form called Crux decussata (X-shaped cross) and commonly known as

"Saint Andrew's Cross"; this was performed at his own request, as he deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross on which Christ was crucified.

The Cross of Burgundy flag was used by Spain 1506-1701 as a naval ensign, and up to 1843 as the land battle flag, and still appears on regimental colours, badges, shoulder patches and company guidons. The year 1506 should be considered its theoretical earliest use in Spain (that is, it made appearance on the standards carried by Philip the Handsome's Burgundian life guards), although about 1525 might be perhaps a more likely estimate. The banner strictly speaking dates back to the early 15th century (allegedly 1408 at the earliest), when the Duke of Burgundy, claimant to the French throne, backed up the English in the Hundred Years' War..

It is one of the most important flags in the history of Spain. After the marriage of Joanna of Castile (Joanna the Mad), daughter of the Catholic monarchs, with Archduke of Austria and later Philip I of Castile (Philip the Handsome), it was introduced among the Spanish flags a piece that, although of foreign origin, would later become the Spanish symbol by antonomasia, whatever the color of cloth where it will be embroidered would be (mainly white and yellow). It is more properly called "Cruz de San Andrés" (Saint Andrew's Cross) or, "Vane of Burgundy". This was the symbol of the Archduke. Since Emperor Charles I of Spain, the different armies used the flag with the Cross of Burgundy over different fields, first incorporated to the uniforms of the Archers of Burgundy and later to the rest of the army, painted on the dresses to distinguish themselves in combat. It soon appeared also on the flags that, up to present-day, wear the regiments of Spain.

Both, the Cross of Burgundy and the blazon of the Catholic Monarchs were the first European symbols to arrive to the New World.

During the Spanish colonization of the Americas the Cross of Burgundy served as the flag of the Viceroyalties of the New World (Bandera de Ultramar). Nations that were once part of the Spanish Empire consider "las aspas de Borgoña" to be a historical flag, particularly appropriate for museum exhibits and the remains of the massive harbor-defense fortifications built in the 1600s-1700s. At both San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico, and at Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Augustine, Florida, the Cross of Burgundy is daily flown over the historic forts, built by Spain to defend their lines of communication between the territories of their New World empire. The flying of this flag reminds people today of the impact Spain and its military had on world history for over 400 years.

Cross of Burgundy alongside Puerto Rico and U.S. flags at Fort San Cristóbal.

Flying Saturday June 20, 2009.

2009-06-20T07:45:00.007+01:00

Today I am flying the flag of Savoy.

Note: Do not confuse with the Danish flag............

Savoy (French: Savoie Italian: Savoia) a region of Europe on the western flank of the Alps that emerged following the collapse of the Frankish Kingdom of Burgundy.

I am prompted to make the link with today as June 20 is the anniversary of the birth of Charles Emmanuel II (Italian: Carlo Emanuele II di Savoia) (20 June 1634 – 12 June 1675), the Duke of Savoy from 1638 to 1675.

Carlo Emanuele IIdi Savoia

The House of Savoy was installed by Rudolph III, King of Burgundy, officially in 1003, and it became the longest surviving royal house in Europe. It ruled the County of Savoy to 1416 and then the Duchy of Savoy from 1416 to 1714. The County and Duchy of Savoy incorporated Turin and other territories in Piedmont, a region in north western Italy that borders Savoy, which were also possessions of the House of Savoy. The capital of the Duchy remained at the traditional Savoyard capital of Chambéry until 1563, when it was moved to Turin. In the 18th century, the Duchy of Savoy was linked with the Kingdom of Sardinia. While the heads of the House of Savoy were known as the Kings of Sardinia, Turin remained their capital. The original territory of Savoy was absorbed into France in 1860, as part of the political agreement with Napoleon III that brought about the unification of Italy, but the House of Savoy retained its Italian lands and its heads became the Kings of Italy.

In modern France, Savoy is part of the Rhône-Alpes region, the Department de la Savoie.

The Savoy cross in the Italian Flag

One of my favourite flags in my collection is my huge Italian flag, in use in Italy until 1946.

I bought this on Ebay from someone who sold it as “probably an Italian football club”, so it escaped the view of other collectors. It is huge and linen, and is a dream to look at flying, given a strong wind which is essential. The “Tricolore”, charged with the Savoy/Savoia shield in the centre, became in 1848 the national flag of the Kingdom of Sardinia and, in 1861 of the Kingdom of Italy. Finally, in 1946, King Victor Emmanuel III abdicated, The Kingdom of Italy (Regno d'Italia) was no more. The Savoy family was forced to leave Italy, the Savoy shield was removed, and the plain tricolour became the flag of the Italian republic

Mystery Flag

The Savoy cross appears in a strange and unidentified flag in my possession.

I acquired this years ago when I bought an old Rectory from the Church of England for use as my home. Some years later, in the roof space, I discovered a cache of old flags. Amongst them was this flag, a blue ensign with the same Savoy cross, Despite my research over the years I am still unable to identify the purpose for which it was made. It was not, apparently, intended to fly from a flag pole.

Flying Friday, June 19, 2009.

2009-06-19T07:45:00.008+01:00

Today I will fly my New Jersey flag, a US state that recognises Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. It commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. State of Texas in 1865. Celebrated on June 19, the term is a portmanteau of June and nineteenth, and is recognized as a state holiday in 31 of the United States.

Though the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, it had minimal immediate effect on most slaves’ day-to-day lives, particularly in Texas, which was almost entirely under Confederate control. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves.

General Gordon Granger

The Stars and Stripes and the Juneteenth Commemoration flag, representing a star of Texas bursting with new freedom throughout the land, over a new horizon.

The Times, London:

The Times, London, July 18, 1865. The news took almost one month to reach the London press, and its importance appeared insignificantly reported.

Flying Thursday, June 18, 2009.

2009-06-18T07:45:00.002+01:00

Iran, the last Shah

June 18 appears to be a day on which I can find no flag from my collection to relate to an anniversary or public holiday on this day, so I have to stretch the rules a little further. Without wishing to inflame tension in Iran, I am going to fly my Iran flag in use in Iran from the period 1964 to 1980, the latter period of the reign of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of the Pahlavi Dynasty, commonly known in the west as the Shah. In fact this is broadly similar to earlier flags in use from 1906, the earlier Qajar Dynasty and then the last Shah’s father Rezā Shāh Pahlavi.

Iranian Flag, 1964 to 1980

I do not have the current Iranian flag in use since just after the Islamic revolution in 1979.

I think I will defer its purchase as I may get a bargain if it changes again soon.

Flying Wednesday June 17, 2009.

2009-06-17T08:00:00.006+01:00

The flag flying today commemorates a battle by American colonial forces.The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775 on Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War.

On June 13, 1775, the leaders of the besieging colonial forces learned that the British generals in Boston were planning to occupy the unoccupied hills around Boston. In response to this intelligence, 1,200 colonial troops under the command of William Prescott stealthily occupied Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill, constructed an earthen redoubt on Breed's Hill, and built lightly fortified lines across most of the Charlestown Peninsula.

When the British were alerted to the presence of the new position the next day, they mounted an attack against them. After two assaults on the Colonial lines were repulsed with significant British casualties, the British finally captured the positions on the third assault, after the defenders in the redoubt ran out of ammunition. The Colonial forces retreated to Cambridge over Bunker Hill, suffering their most significant losses on Bunker Hill.

While the result was a victory for the British, they suffered their greatest losses of the entire war: over 800 wounded and 226 killed, including a notably large number of officers. Their immediate objective (the capture of Bunker Hill) was achieved, but did not significantly alter the state of siege. It did, however, demonstrate that relatively inexperienced Colonial forces were willing and able to stand up to well-trained troops in a pitched battle.

Drag the cursor around in the Google Streetview screen below to view the area around the Bunker Hill monument.

View Larger Map

Some controversy exists concerning which flag flew at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, at the onset of the American Revolutionary War. An officer of the Royal Marines reported that no flags were used by the rebels. John Trumbull, an known for his historic detail who witnessed the battle through a spyglass, used a red flag with a pine tree in his painting The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Another flag which commonly represents the battle has a plain blue flag and a canton quartered with cross of St. George (the symbol of England) and a tree in a quarter of the canton. Although possibly inspired by the Blue Ensign of the Royal Navy, the blue field is said to have been due to an error in a Wood engraving, causing confusion with painters. However, Benson John Lossing writes in Field Book of the Revolution that he interviewed the daughter of a Bunker Hill veteran who told her that he hoisted a blue flag on Breed's Hill prior to the battle.

Regardless of its authenticity, the blue variation of the New England flag has become the de facto symbol of the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Flying Tuesday June 16, 2009.

2009-06-16T08:00:00.004+01:00

Today, June 16 a short lesion is Soviet Union repression in eastern bloc Europe, and an opportunity to fly my Hungarian flag.

Strictly this flag bearing the coat of arms is the state flag and the national flag is similar without the coat of arms. However, the tricolor with the coat of arms in it is more or less used as the de facto national flag.

The national flag.

Imre Nagy (June 7, 1896 – June 16, 1958)

Imre Nagy was a Hungarian politician, appointed Prime Minister of Hungary on two occasions. Nagy's second term ended when his non-Soviet-backed government was brought down by Soviet invasion in the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956, resulting in Nagy's execution on charges of treason two years later.

When the revolution was crushed by the Soviet invasion of Hungary, Nagy, with a few others, was given sanctuary in the Yugoslav Embassy. In spite of a written safe conduct of free passage by János Kádár, on 22 November, Nagy was arrested by the Soviet forces as he was leaving the Yugoslav Embassy, and taken to Snagov, Romania. Subsequently, the Soviets returned him to Hungary, where he was secretly charged with organizing to overthrow the Hungarian people's democratic state and with treason. Nagy was secretly tried, found guilty, sentenced to death and executed by hanging in June, 1958. His trial and execution were made public only after the sentence was carried out. According to Fedor Burlatsky, a Kremlin insider, Nikita Khrushchev had Nagy executed, "as a lesson to all other leaders in socialist countries."

He was buried along with others in a distant corner (section 301) of the Kozma Street Cemetery Municipal Cemetery outside Budapest.

During the time when the Communist leadership of Hungary would not permit his death to be commemorated, or permit access to his burial place, a cenotaph in his honour was erected in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. In 1989, Imre Nagy was rehabilitated and his remains reburied on the 31st anniversary of his execution in the same plot after a funeral organized in part by opponents of the country's communist regime. Over 100,000 people are estimated to have attended Nagy's reinternment.

Some other recent past flag versions:

In 1949 the new Stalinist Hungarian arms were placed on the flag as the badge.

During the anti-Soviet uprising in 1956, revolutionaries cut out the Stalinist emblem and used the resulting tricolor with a hole in the middle as the symbol of the revolution.

Post Script

I realised after I raised the flag this morning that the flag I have is actually not one of the versions I have written about above, but yet another de facto version. I remain unconvinced by what I have read as to just how this version came about, by what group, and where, so I proposes simply to show my own flag below, without further comment.

Flying Monday June 15, 2009.

2009-06-15T08:00:00.008+01:00

Flag Day USA was June 14, yesterday, so one day late I will fly the first United States flag sometimes called the “Betsy Ross.

Although it appears that Flag Day is not well acknowledged in the USA and does not result in widespread national flag flying, it is the anniversary of The Flag Act of 1777 passed by the Second Continental Congress on that day June 14, 1777, in response to a petition made by an American Indian nation on June 3 for "an American Flag."

The Act reads in its entirety: "Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation."

The reference to Betsy Ross is that it is alleged, by myth or otherwise, that the original flag was sewn by Betsy, an upholsterer in Philadelphia.

The Birth of Old Glory, by Edward Percy Moran, depicting the presentation by Betsy Ross of the first American flag to George Washington

Old Glory, a common nickname for the flag of the United States.

The original Old Glory was made and presented to a young Captain Driver by his mother and some young ladies of his native Salem, Massachusetts.
The year is uncertain, but it was probably sometime in the 1820s. It is a large flag, measuring 10 feet by 17 feet, heavily constructed and designed to be flown from a ship's mast. It originally had 24 stars and, symbolic of its nautical purpose, included a small anchor sewn in the corner of its blue canton.
The captain was very pleased with his gift, and kept it with him always. By most accounts, he first hailed the flag as "Old Glory," when he left harbour for a trip around the world in 1831-1832, as commander of the whaling vessel Charles Doggett. Old Glory served as the ship's official flag throughout the voyage.

Driver retired from the sea in 1837 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. He flew his beloved flag on all patriotic occasions, using a rope suspended across the street, and Old Glory became well known to the citizenry. By 1861, it was modified to show 34 stars (the number of states then in the Union).

When the Civil War broke out and Tennessee seceded from the union in 1861, Driver knew or feared that the rebel government would attempt to destroy the locally famous Old Glory. He had the flag sewn inside a comforter to conceal it. Accounts differ as to whether and how hard the Confederate authorities searched for the flag, but in any event it survived. When Union forces retook Nashville the following year, Driver was able to bring out his flag and hoist it from the state capitol spire, the last time it flew from a flagpole. These dramatic events were reported by many newspapers, and Old Glory became nationally famous.

Flying Sunday June 14, 2009.

2009-06-14T08:00:00.006+01:00

June 14, is “Freedom Day” in Malawi. I have the current Malawi flag, so I am flying it today.

The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast and Mozambique, which surrounds it on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. The name Malawi comes from the Maravi, one of the original Bantu tribes to inhabit the area.

In 1891 Malawi was colonized by the British who ruled the country until 1964. Upon gaining independence it became a single-party state under the presidency of Hastings Banda, who remained president until 1994, when he was ousted from power. Bingu Mutharika, elected in 2004, is the current president. Malawi has a democratic, multi-party government. Malawi has a small military force that includes an army, a navy and an air wing. Malawi's foreign policy is pro-Western and includes positive diplomatic relations with most countries.

Malawi is among the world's least developed and most densely populated countries. The economy is heavily based in agriculture, with a largely rural population. The Malawian government depends heavily on outside aid to meet development needs, although this need (and the aid offered) has decreased since 2000.

The old flag of Nyasaland when a British colony.

Malawi Supreme Court overturns “Madonna and Mercy” ruling.

Madonna was allowed to adopt a second child from Malawi in June 12 judgment after the country's Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling in a case that has been criticized by local rights groups.

Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo said Madonna had shown an interest in helping Malawi orphans and that 4-year-old Mercy James would have a better life with the star.

He said a lower court had erred in turning down the adoption request because Madonna was not resident in Malawi.

"We find the judge in the lower court to have dwelled so much on media reports on the issue of residence and to us this was not evidence enough to deny Madonna a chance to adopt Mercy James. We therefore grant Madonna the adoption order," Munlo said.

"Madonna has shown that she is bold, and compassionate enough to come forward to adopt Chifundo James."

It is nice also to be able to fly the flag for Mercy and Madonna today.....God Bless them !

Flying Saturday June 13, 2009.

2009-06-13T08:00:00.021+01:00

In the UK, today, June 13, it is the official birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (she was actually born 21 April 1926). I flew the Union Jack some days ago, so I was looking today for something with an indirect connection with Her Majesty.

June 13 is also the anniversary of the great fire of Vancouver, British Columbia, and so I have chosen my British Columbia flag to fly today.

In Canada the Queen's official birthday is actually celebrated by Victoria Day in May. After the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, an Act was passed by the Parliament of Canada (as subsequently amended in 1952) establishing the legal holiday on the Monday preceding May 25.

The Flag of British Columbia, the sixth province to formally join Canada in 1871, is based upon the shield of the provincial arms of British Columbia. At the top of the flag is a rendition of the Union Flag, defaced in the centre by a crown, representing the province's origins as a British colony, with a setting sun below.

The Queen

Queen Elizabeth is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. All together, these countries have a combined population, including dependencies, of over 129 million. She holds each crown separately and equally in a shared monarchy, and carries out duties in and on behalf of all the states of which she is sovereign. She is also Head of the Commonwealth, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Duke of Normandy, Lord of Mann, and Paramount Chief of Fiji. In theory her powers are vast; however, in practice, and in accordance with convention, she rarely intervenes in political matters.

The official birthday, traditionally held on a Saturday in early June in the UK, is marked by the Trooping of the colour in London, Horse Guards Parade.

The Massed Bands on Horseguards for Trooping the Colour 2006.

Vancouver

The Great Vancouver Fire was a conflagration that destroyed most of the newly-incorporated city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on 13 June 1886. The fire began as a brush fire to clear land that was spread out of control by a strong gale. Dozens of lives were claimed by the fire and the only structures not destroyed were a stone building in the West End, the Hastings Mill Store, and a few structures on the banks of False Creek. An estimated $1.3 million was lost in destroyed property, but within four days, new buildings began to appear. The city was rebuilt with modern water, electricity and streetcar systems.

The flag of Vancouver

The Canadian Flag

The current flag of Canada is the Maple Leaf, and l'Unifolié (French for "the one-leafed"), a red flag with a white square in its centre, featuring a stylized 11-pointed red maple leaf. Its adoption in 1965 marked the first time a national flag had been officially adopted in Canada to replace the Union Flag.

The Maple Leaf, the official Canadian lag since 1965

The Canadian Red Ensign

The Canadian Red Ensign had been unofficially used since the 1860s and was approved by a 1945 Order-in-Council for use "wherever place or occasion may make it desirable to fly a distinctive Canadian flag".

By strange coincidence, whilst I was drafting this blog a few days in advance, a fellow blogger, Brett Payne of of Tauranga, New Zealand , author of the Photo-Sleuth blog and Photographers & Photographic Studios in Derbyshire, England , sent a photograph of his ancestors partying in the woods, with a request that I identify the flags on the right.

I immediately spotted the British Columbia “setting sun” and, as he told me they had at one time been in Winnipeg, and already being familiar with the Canadian Red Ensigns, I set about both trying to identify the provincial shields on the crest, and match this with a known version of the unofficial flags that had been used for so long.

The task has proved more difficult that at first it appeared. There are many versions of the Red Ensign as Canada came together from the various additions to the original Canada of the Constitution Act, 1867, which brought about a Confederation of one Dominion under the name of Canada consisting of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. As further territorial bodies joined, so their shields were added to the unofficial Red Ensigns. It seems probable to me that there could be a limitless versions of an unofficial flag as graphic designers at local flag producers may have interpreted change as they felt right, which might well have given prominence to their own province. I may well be shot down with that suggestion.

Another point is that the available images of flags generally seen on the Internet are images produced recently in digital graphic form, as opposed to images of original "approved" designs, actual flags or other accurate published material. So all flag images seen on the Internet have to be taken as simply "representative" of design, colour and ratio., and looked at with a pinch of salt.

Below are some of the Canadian Red Ensigns. I have intentionally put dates with question marks as I suspect that there are differences of opinion as to exact dates. In some flags there are versions both without and with the adornments of the crown and maple leaf garland that were found on the great seal.

(Four provinces, 1867-1871?)

(5 Provinces, 1873+?)

(7 Provinces, 1873+?)

(7 Provinces, 1896+? ; BC varies to prior 7 province version after it adopted a new coat of arms)

(7 Provinces, 1901?; The Victoria crown is replaced by the Edward crown following her death)

(9 Provinces, 1905+ ?)

(1921-1957)

(1957-1965) The Maple leaves were changed to red. The 1921 proclamation specified that the leaves be "proper," i.e., in their natural colour, but this was ambiguous because maple leaves can be green, yellow, or red. Artists had previously drawn them green, but on this date the secretary of state announced that they should henceforth be red.

This last flag above I spotted on Ebay today, some further artistic licence perhaps? Possibly circa 1871 to 1873 as it has BC (1871) but not Prince Edward Island (1873). I don't think the seller has appreciated its age, it will be interesting to see if the collectors miss it ! I doubt it !

This flag appears to me to make more chronological sense, as it has BC, which became a province in 1871, and not Prince Edward Island (1873). The earlier 5 Province flag image shown above shows Prince Edward Island but not BC. I wonder if that earlier image is an error by whoever compiled it and posted it on the Internet??

I appear to have set myself the task of working out which Ensign appears in the Brett Payne's old photograph , and I am afraid the results are unlikely to be ready for this blog. One of the authorities on the history of the Red Ensigns is Alistair B Fraser, a British Columbia resident and Emeritus Professor of Meteorology, Pennsylvania State University, and author of The Flags of Canada. I am hoping that Mr Fraser keeps an eye on his good name with Google Alerts or similar, and will spot this blog and leave his valued opinion before, if ever, I solve it myself.

Flying Friday June 12, 2009.

2009-06-11T20:00:00.004+01:00

June 12 is the anniversary of the adoption of the New Zealand flag in 1902.

The flag of New Zealand is a defaced Blue Ensign with the Union Jack in the canton, and four red stars with white borders to the right. The stars represent the constellation of Crux, the Southern Cross, as seen from New Zealand.

New Zealand's first flag, the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand, was adopted before New Zealand became a British colony.

Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand

The united Tribes flag was chosen by an assembly of Māori chiefs in 1834, the flag was of a St. George's Cross with another cross in the canton containing four stars on a blue field. After the formation of the colony in 1841, British ensigns began to be used.

New Flag for New Zealand

A number of groups in New Zealand have advocated a change of flag away from the flag with colonial roots, and have advocated many designs, some shown below.

P.S.

Click this link to Watch some England v NZ Rugby (first 2 clips) !

Flying Thursday June 11, 2009.

2009-06-11T08:00:00.005+01:00

The Hawaii State Flag flying in Vernon Street today:

June 11 is Kamehameha Day is a public holiday of the state of Hawaii in the United States. It honors Kamehameha the Great, the monarch who first established the unified Kingdom of Hawaiʻi — comprising the Hawaiian Islands of Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui and Hawaiʻi.

Kamehameha, known as the Napoleon of the Pacific for his achievements in warfare and diplomacy.

The Flag of the State of Hawai'i (Hawaiian: Ka Hae Hawaiʻi) is the official standard symbolizing Hawaii as a U.S. state, as it previously had as a kingdom, protectorate, republic, and territory. It is the only state flag of the United States to have been flown under so many various forms of government, and the only to feature the Union Flag of the United Kingdom, a relic of the period in Hawaiian history when it was considered a British protectorate (1794–1843).

There are various accounts of the earliest history of the flag of Hawaii. One relates how King Kamehameha I flew a British flag, probably a Red Ensign, given to him by British explorer Captain George Vancouver as a token of friendship with King George III. Subsequent visits reported seeing the flag flying from places of honour. An adviser to Kamehameha noted that the Union Flag could draw Hawaii into international conflict as his kingdom could be seen as an ally of the United Kingdom, and he subsequently lowered the Union Flag over his home. While disputed as historically accurate, one account of events that followed stated that in order to placate American interests during the War of 1812, a flag of the United States was raised over Kamehameha's home only to be removed when British officers in the court of Kamehameha vehemently objected to it. This account then explains why the resulting flag of Hawaii was a deliberate hybrid of the two nations' flags.

In 1816, Kamehameha commissioned his own flag to avoid conflict. As a result, the current flag of Hawaii was born.

Flying Wednesday June 10, 2009.

2009-06-10T08:00:00.003+01:00

The flag today is Portugal, as it is the anniversary of the death of Luís Vaz de Camões on June 10, 1580

An imaginary portrait of Camões by François Gérard.

Camões is considered Portugal's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Homer, Virgil, and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry (in Portuguese and in Spanish) and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas. Hisphilosophical work The Parnasum of Luís Vaz was lost, arguably stolen by enemies with part of Os Lusíadas when Camões was visiting Mozambique.

I am not renowned for my love of poetry, and the recent efforts of the BBC to popularise and justify poetry have had zero effect on my interest, so I will certainly not be conducting a reading of his works as this flag is raised and lowered today. but if you insist.......here is a small sample:

As armas e os barões assinalados,
Que da ocidental praia Lusitana,
Por mares nunca de antes navegados,
Passaram ainda além da Taprobana,
Em perigos e guerras esforçados,
Mais do que prometia a força humana,
E entre gente remota edificaram
Novo Reino, que tanto sublimaram;

from Luís Vaz de Camões, Os Lusíadas, Canto Primeiro.

I am not too good at Portuguese, but I think this loosely translates as "......The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea, in a beautiful pea-green boat.............etc"

Flying Tuesday June 9, 2009

2009-06-09T08:00:00.007+01:00

June 9 is the 63rd anniversary of the accession to the throne of the King of Thailand, and I am flying the King’s 60th anniversary flag designed for that occasion.

Bhumibol Adulyadej (Thai: ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช) (born Monday 5 December 1927), is the current King and Head of the State of Thailand.

The king with Queen Sirikit

King Bhumibol Adulyadej or King Rama IX has reigned since the 9 June 1946, making him the world’s longest reigning monarch and the world’s longest serving head of state. Most of the King’s powers are exercised by his elected government in accordance with the constitution of the day. The King still retains many powers such as being head of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, the prerogative of royal assent and the power of pardon.

The King and his family are protected by Lèse majesté laws. From the Latin laesa maiestas "injury to majesty"; Lèse majesté is the crime of violating majesty, an offense against the dignity of a reigning sovereign or against a state.

The Thai monarchy has been in continuous existence since the founding of the Kingdom of Sukhothai in 1238. The institution reached its current constitutional form in 1932 after a revolution, which ended the absolute monarchy. The monarchy's official residence is the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand. However the present King spends most of his time at the Chitralada Palace (also in Bangkok) and the Klai Kangwon Villa in Hua Hin.

Flying Monday June 8, 2009.

2009-06-08T08:00:00.005+01:00

The flag of Malta: I only got this flag a few days ago, and really I should have flown it yesterday, June 7, which was the anniversary of Sette Giugno (Italian for 7 June). In 1919 British troops fired on a rally protesting against new taxes, killing four Maltese men. This led to increased resistance and support for the pro-Italian parties that had challenged the English presence on the island. The event is commemorated every year.

Great Britain formally acquired possession of Malta in 1814. The island staunchly supported the UK through both World Wars and remained in the Commonwealth when it became independent in 1964. A decade later Malta became a republic. Since about the mid-1980s, the island has transformed itself into a freight transhipment point, a financial centre, and a tourist destination. Malta became an EU member in May 2004 and began using the euro as currency in 2008.

In the upper hoist corner (in the canton of the white field) is the George Cross, outlined in red.

On 15 April 1942, King George VI awarded Malta the George Cross, the highest civilian award for gallantry in the Commonwealth, normally awarded to individuals: "to honour her brave people, I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history". President Franklin Roosevelt, describing the wartime period, called Malta "one tiny bright flame in the darkness".

In the first six months of 1942, there was only one 24-hour period without air raids. Luftwaffe records indicate that between 20 March and 28 April 1942, Malta was subjected to 11,819 sorties and 6,557 tonnes of bombs.

The siege caused significant hardships for everyone on Malta. Bombs killed many and left even more homeless. Businesses and civil infrastructure were destroyed. The disruption of shipping caused food, fuel, and other commodities to be in very short supply.

The State Ensign 1923-1943 (before the award of the George Cross)

The State Ensign 1943-1964 (Independence)

Flying Sunday June 7, 2009.

2009-06-07T08:00:00.002+01:00

On the 65th Anniversaryof the "D-Day", June 6, 1944, I have spent the afternoon and evening watching the coverage of the commemoration pilgrimages to the beaches of Normandy, and some extraordinary film footage on BBC Four this evening.

For today, June 7, as tribute, I will fly my Normandy flag, of two leopards passant, and attach also to this blog the flags of the main landing forces.

I have spent this year reading up about this extraordinary event, in anticipation of a week to be spent in Normandy with my family later in the year.

It is quite beyond me to comment here upon the courage, cunning, planning and deceit of this landing.

Normandy

United Kingdom

Canada (the Canadian flag 1921-1957)

United States of America

France, Free French.

Poland

Norway

Flying Saturday June 6, 2009.

2009-06-06T08:00:00.002+01:00

My nephew and his Thai wife Sirinnuj are coming for lunch today so a good chance to fly the Thai state flag.

The flag of the Kingdom of Thailand shows five horizontal stripes in the colours red, white, blue, white and red, with the middle blue stripe being twice as wide as each of the other four. The three colours red-white-blue stand for nation-religion-king, an unofficial motto of Thailand. The flag was adopted on 28 September 1917, according to the royal decree about the flag in that year. The Thai name for the flag is ธงไตรรงค์ (Thong Trairong), which simply means tricolour flag.

The first flag used for Siam was probably a plain red one, first used under King Narai (1656-1688). Naval flags later used different symbols on the red ground—a white chakra (the weapon of god Vishnu which use as the symbol of the House of Chakri), or a white elephant inside the chakra.

Officially the first flag was created in 1855 by King Mongkut (Rama IV), showing a white elephant (a royal symbol) on red ground, as the plain coloured flag was not distinct enough for international relations.

In 1916 the flag was changed to the current design, but with the middle colour being the same red as the outer stripe. The story goes that during a flood King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) saw the flag hanging upside-down, and to prevent this from happening again created a new flag which was symmetrical. In 1917 the middle colour was changed to dark blue, the auspicious colour for Saturday in Thai astrology, the day King Vajiravudh was born. According to other sources, the blue colour was also chosen to show solidarity with the Allies of World War I, which also had the colours blue-red-white in their flags.

The Thai Naval Ensign

Flying Friday June 5, 2009.

2009-06-05T08:00:00.003+01:00

Today I am flying the United Nations flag. June 5 is World Environment Day and was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Commemorated yearly on 5 June, it is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.

The flag of the United Nations was adopted on October 20, 1947, and consists of the official emblem of the United Nations in white on a blue background.

The organizers of the 1945 United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, California wanted an insignia that could be made into a pin to identify delegates. United States Secretary of State Edward Stettinius, Jr. was chairman of the U.S. delegation, and realized that a temporary design might become the permanent symbol of the United Nations. He formed a committee headed by Oliver Lundquist that developed a design consisting of a world map surrounded by leaves from a design created by Donal McLaughlin

The blue colour that appears in the background of the insignia was chosen to be "the opposite of red, the war colour". The original colour the group chose in 1945 was a gray blue that differs from the current United Nations flag. The globe used in the original design was an azimuthal projection focused on the North Pole with the United States, the host nation of the conference, at the center. The projection used cut off portions of the Southern Hemisphere at the latitude of Argentina which was acceptable at the time, as Argentina was not an original member of the United Nations.

The olive branches are a symbol for peace, and the world map represents all the people of the world.

In 1946, a UNO committee got the task of making a definite design, which was presented December 2, 1946, and adopted by the plenary session of the UNO on December 7, 1946. The earlier version had the globe 90 degrees turned eastward compared with the present flag. According to press statements, the change was made to move North America away from the centre of the emblem

White and blue are the official colours of the United Nations.

According to the "Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel", the emblem and the flag of the United Nations can be used by the personnel and material of UN Peacekeeping missions as a protective sign to prevent attacks during an armed conflict.

Flying Tuseday June 2, 2009.

2009-06-02T08:00:00.014+01:00

The Union Flag or Union Jack

To celebrate June 2 1953: Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at a coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey in London.

When King James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne, thereby becoming James I of England, the national flags of England and Scotland on land continued to be, respectively, the red St George's cross and the white St Andrew's cross.

Confusion arose, however, as to what flag would be appropriate at sea. On 12 April 1606 a proclamation was issued:

"All our subjects in this our isle and kingdom of Great Britain and the members thereof, shall bear in their main top the red cross commonly called St George's Cross and the white cross commonly called St. Andrew's Cross joined together according to a form made by our heralds and sent to our Admiral to be published to our said subjects."

The result was this flag below, now known as the King’s Colours:

Although the original design referred to has been lost, it is presumed that it was the flag which, with the addition of the St Patrick's cross, forms the basic design of the British Union Flag today. It is also interesting to note that the new flag was not universally popular nor accepted. The English were not overly pleased at the obscuring of the white field of the St George's flag. The Scots, with more justification, were upset at the fact that the red cross was laid over the white.

The current and second Union Flag dates from 1 January 1801 with the Act of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The new design added the red saltire cross of St Patrick's Flag for Ireland. This saltire is overlaid on the saltire of St Andrew, but still beneath the cross of St George. The Irish saltire is arranged countercharged with the saltire of St Andrew, so the white is always on the clockwise side of the red. The arrangement has introduced a requirement to display the flag "the right way up".

What is the correct Flag to be flown on land by Civilians?

This answer was based upon a Minute by Garter, King of Arms:

"There is no Flag in existence answering to this general description. Civilians generally are not authorised to fly or display any Flag. Peers and gentlemen entitled to bear Arms have a right to fly from their Castles or residences a banner of their Arms. The Royal Standard appertains to the Sovereign alone. The Union Flag of the United Kingdom is used by authority throughout the Army and Navy, and the State Departments, usually with some modification or addition by way of distinction. The Union Flag, being the National Flag, appertains to the Nation as a whole, and cannot be considered as specially distinctive of individuals, or groups of individuals. The common practice on occasions of national rejoicing of displaying the Royal Standard and the Union Flag indiscriminately with other Flags must be regarded as an attempt to express loyalty by means of decoration. As to Public Buildings, Schools, etc - State Buildings should fly the Union Flag. Schools etc., should fly the Flag displaying their proper Arms. Municipal Buildings should fly a banner of the Arms of the particular Corporate body. The issue of a Royal Warrant touching this matter would, in my opinion, be inexpedient. Sir Arthur W. Woods."

Burning flags in protests:

In 2006 Police chiefs urged the government to make flag-burning, amongst other offences, a new criminal offence, as part of a drive to crack down on extremists and others preaching violence and religious hate. The proposals were drawn up by Scotland Yard, and submitted to the Attorney General by Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur. He was responsible for public order in the capital as commander of central operations.

In my humble opinion, if people want to burn flags as an expression of outrage, then they will do it law or no law, and legislation is pointless. Mr Ghaffur should well have known that the police could and would not be able to stop it. The mere fact of arresting a flag burner may well be the spark that turns a relatively peaceful protest into a riot. We should not be offended if someone chooses to burn our flag in public; if we are offended the flag burner has achieved exactly what he/she set out to do !

I am relieved that Mr. Gaffur resigned from the Metropolitan Police in 2008, albeit in controversial circumstances, and his daft suggestion appears to have been forgotten.

The gentlemen below protesting about Salman Rushdie some years ago probably never knew they were not burning the Union Flag at all, their local flag maker being far too careless.

Get it the right way up !

Lastly, I should mention how often the Union Jack is flown upside down. I just cycled up to Radbourne Street in Derby where a house owner regularly flies one upside down, to get a photo, but sadly he has changed it for Saint George’s Cross, so I have to illustrate this sin with borrowed photographs.

Finally, as an aside connected to the Coronation, and because I have a blog reader with a Sherwood Forester interest:

On June 2 1953 my father led the contingent from the 5th Battalion The Sherwood Foresters at the Coronation Parade in London, and here is a photo of the contingent, presumably taken at the Drill Hall at Becket Street, Derby. It is alleged that as a 2 year old I watched the parade on my family's first TV, specially acquired for the event, and was so terrified by the experience I hid under a table.

The contingent consisted of:

Backrow, left to right:

Pte. J. Duckworth

Pte. K. Smith

Pte. J.Stevenson

Pte. W. Parkey

Pte. J.Thompson

C.Q.M.S. W. Ferguson

Lieut.K.C.Bowmer (Queens Colour)

Sgt. G. Mee

Pte. R.Wade

Pte. J. Stanton

Pte. M. Moylan

Pte. G. Bowmer

Pte. R. Johnson

Pte. R. Fairweather

Front row, left to right:

Pte. R. Cook

L/Cpl. F. Holt

Cpl. Meakin

C.Q.M.S. T. Leighton

Major G. S. Aspdin (my father)

R.S.M. H. Platt

Cpl. C. Cook

Cpl. L. Carran

L/Cpl. F. Whyley

Pte. G. Camp

Post script:

Thank you to my friend Birte in Munich, she sent me this equally charming photograph, from her collection, of 3 children who managed to get the flag the right way up !

Flying Monday June 1, 2009.

2009-06-01T08:00:00.010+01:00

The 2008 Beijing Olympic flag.

I have chosen a Chinese theme flag for today. In the People's Republic of China, Children's Day is celebrated on June 1 and is formally known as "the June 1 International Children's Day" (Simplified Chinese: 六一国际儿童节; pinyin: lìuyīguójì’értóngjié). When the People's Republic of China was first established in 1949, the State Council (Cabinet) designated a half-day holiday for all primary schools on June 1. This was later made into a full day's break in 1956 with The Announcement by the State Council to make June 1 Children's Day a One-Day Holiday. Schools usually hold activities such as camping trips or free movies on Children's Day to allow students to have fun, and children of civil servants might also receive small gifts from the government. This is an idea that now seems unlikely to be promoted for the UK by our Parliament.

I have two other PRC related flags, the red state flag, and the yellow flag of the Qing Dynasty and last emperor Puyi 溥儀, the later obviously only a historical flag since 1912.

I flew the Beijing 2008 Olympic flag for the course of the games in August 2008, and hope this moral support contributed to our team’s outstanding successes. In recognition of this tribute, Google sent their Streetview camera car up Vernon Street to record this flag flying so far from Beijing !

Play around with this frame below, drag the picture, or move the compass controls, to view all up Vernon Street, and behind, to Friar Gate.

View Larger Map

Post Script:

Oh dear ! My China correspondent tells me China have blocked my blog.....amd I thought it was so complimentary to them !

Flying Sunday May 31, 2009

2009-05-31T08:00:00.009+01:00

Brunei:

May 31 is Armed Forces day in Brunei, and I am flying the national flag which was adopted on September 29, 1959 when the country was a British protectorate, and was retained when the country gained full independence on January 1, 1984, as Brunei Darussalam (State of Brunei, Abode of Peace). The flag has the Coat of Arms of Brunei in the centre, on a yellow field. The field is cut by black and white diagonal stripes, although they are officially called parallelograms.

The coat of arms is as follows: a crescent (symbolising Islam) joined with a parasol (symbolising monarchy), and two gloves on both sides. Below the crescent is a ribbon. On the crescent and ribbon are Arabic inscriptions translating as "State of Brunei, Abode of peace" and Brunei's motto, "Always in service with God's guidance"

In Southeast Asia, yellow is traditionally the colour of royalty, and the royal standards of Malaysia and Thailand, along with the presidential flag of Indonesia, also use a yellow field.

Black and white stripes represent Brunei's chief ministers, and yellow represents the Sultan of Brunei. The national emblem was placed in the center in 1959. A similar version of this flag, without the coat of arms, was first used in 1906. The coat of arms bears a crescent symbolic of the Islamic faith, and the central mast is a symbol of the state. The flag and umbrella are symbols of royalty, and the upturned hands signify the benevolence of the government. The Arabic motto on the crescent translates as : Always render service by God's guidance. Below it, a scroll bears the inscription Brunei Darussalam, the country's official title, meaning City of Peace.

The armed forces use the following flag:

The Sultanate of Brunei's influence peaked between the 15th and 17th centuries when its control extended over coastal areas of northwest Borneo and the southern Philippines. Brunei subsequently entered a period of decline brought on by internal strife over royal succession, colonial expansion of European powers, and piracy. In 1888, Brunei became a British protectorate; independence was achieved in 1984. The same family has ruled Brunei for over six centuries. Brunei benefits from extensive petroleum and natural gas fields, the source of one of the highest per capita GDPs in Asia.

Flying Saturday May 30, 2009.

2009-05-30T08:00:00.004+01:00

Anguilla:

Anguilla is a British Dependency. May 30 is Anguilla day.

The national flag of Anguilla consists of a Blue Ensign with the British flag in the canton, charged with the coat of arms of Anguilla in the fly. The coat of arms consists of three dolphins, which were featured on the earlier Anguillan flag, and which stand for friendship, wisdom and strength. It was adopted on May 30th,1990.

On 27 February 1967, Britain had granted the territory of Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla the status of "associated state", with its own constitution and a considerable degree of self-government. Many Anguillans strenuously objected to the continuing political subservience to Saint Kitts, and on 30 May (now known as Anguilla Day), the Saint Kitts police were evicted from the island.

The island's first flag was a red blue flag featuring the name of the island in yellow and two mermaids. Variants to this flag were also widely used, with some substituting red for purple and some not bearing the name of Anguilla. This flag was widely disliked, and was replaced during Anguilla's brief period of independence by the Dolphin Flag, which is still widely seen around the island. This flag was a banner of the arms found on the current flag, and was white with a broad blue band across the base of the flag, above which were three stylised golden dolphins. It was adopted in 1990.

Flying Friday May 29, 2009.

2009-05-27T13:40:00.007+01:00

The Rhode Island State Flag: May 29 is Ratification Day, the anniversary of Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Rhode Island; May 29, 1790

Though adopted in 1879, the Rhode Island State Flag was only the third of the original thirteen colonies to officially sanction a state banner. New York and New Jersey had adopted official banners two years earlier in 1876.

Almost 90 years after Rhode Island became the last of the original thirteen colonies to form a union, the General Assembly of the state adopted an official design for a state flag. The colours and design of the flag date back to colonial times and the original establishment of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations under King Charles II of England. The most prominent feature of the flag, the anchor, dates back to 1647 and the Cromwellian Patent of 1643 when the Providence Plantations were established. Later, when a more liberal charter was bestowed upon the colony, the anchor was again chosen for the seal and the word "HOPE" was added.

The colours, white and blue, were flown during the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Mexican War. The thirteen stars representing the original thirteen colonies were also displayed on flags flown by the Continental Regiments during the Revolution.

Today’s flag is much the same flag that was adopted in 1897. Centred on the white field is an anchor surrounded by thirteen stars. Below the Anchor is a blue ribbon that displays the word "HOPE", the state motto.

Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island, is the smallest U.S. state by area. Rhode Island borders Connecticut to the west and Massachusetts to the north and east. Rhode Island also shares a water border with New York's Long Island to the southwest.

Despite the name, most of Rhode Island is in fact on the mainland.

Flying Thursday May 28, 2009.

2009-05-26T18:49:00.009+01:00

May 28 is the anniversary of the downfall of the Marxist Dergue in Ethipoia in 1991, and a public holiday there. Below is the current Ethiopian flag, but actually I will not be flying this version.

The Flag of Ethiopia was adopted on February 6, 1996. The three traditional colours- green, yellow, and red- date back to the Emperor Menelik (1889-1913) and were first used in a flag in 1895. The current flag and emblem were adopted after the defeat of the Marxist Mengistu regime, in power from 1974-1991. The emblem is intended to represent both the diversity and unity of the country. Blue represents peace, the star represents diversity and unity, and the sun's rays symbolize prosperity. The green recalls the land and hope for the future, yellow stands for peace and love, and red is symbolic of strength.

The colours of African unity - red, green, yellow - are seen here on one of the oldest African flags. These colours were used for the national flag of Ethiopia in 1897, a year after Ethiopia decisively defended itself from colonial Italy at the Battle of Adwa. The flag's tri-colour scheme has existed since the early 19th c. and was previously the official banner of the Ethiopian Empire's Solomonic dynasty. The colours green, yellow, and red have carried special importance since at least the early 17th century.

The flag I have is not the current Ethiopian flag, but the flag in use up until the deposing of Haile Selassie in 1974. This royal flag featured the emblem of a Lion of Judah, a crowned lion carrying a cross centred in the banner's yellow mid-section. The flag is understood to be a link between the Ethiopian church, the peoples, and the nation were united in the one flag. The processional cross carried by the lion was the former "flag" or symbol of Ethiopia, and has been in use since at least the early 17th century, as well. Whilst red is currently featured at the bottom of the horizontal tricolour this was reversed in the mid 19th century and the emblem was added in 1996. What the colours symbolise varies depending on point of view, but generally: red represents power or African blood spilled in defence of the land; yellow for peace and harmony between Ethiopia's various ethnic and religious groups; green is said to symbolize hope, or the land and its fertility. Other African nations, upon their independence from their colonial rulers so often adopted these three colours that they are known as the Pan-African colours.

Flying Wednesday May 27, 2009.

2009-05-26T16:43:00.004+01:00

The flag of Uganda was adopted on 9 October 1962, the date that Uganda became independent from the United Kingdom. It consists of six equal horizontal bands of black (top), yellow, red, black, yellow, and red; a white disc is superimposed at the centre and depicts the national symbol, a Grey Crowned Crane, facing the hoist side. The three colours, derived from those of the Uganda People's Congress, are representative of African peoples (black), Africa's sunshine (yellow), and African brotherhood (red being the colour of blood, through which all Africans are connected). The Grey Crowned Crane is fabled for its gentle nature and was also the military badge of Ugandan soldiers during British rule.

I have no particular connection with Uganda, but I really like the bold design and colours. My tenuous connection is that in 1942 my great uncle, Kenneth Wallis (41), from Long Eaton, a British Government analyst in colonial service, his wife Sadie (40), and their 2 children Judy-Ann (10) and Peter (3) were en route from Georgetown, Guyana to Uganda where he was due to take up a post as Government Analyst. They were on a small ship S.S. Argo, 1,995 tonnes, which traded between Argentina and Cape Town, and since 1939 had been owned by the Argonaut Shipping Co. Ltd. (Eugene Eugenides, manager), of Greece. On the journey from Buenos Aires to Cape Town it was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine R Smg Ammimaglio Cagni at 20.16 GMT on Sunday November 29, 1942, and sunk in position 34 53S 17 54E. That is about 60 miles south west of Cape Town. 18 died, 12 crew, my great uncle and his family, and the two other pasengers. A further 18 crew survived. Minesweepers were despatched from Cape Town at 21.30 GMT. Two lifeboats were reported to have been seen to be launched, but only one was ever found.

Flying Tuesday May 26, 2009

2009-05-25T16:24:00.001+01:00

You see today the national flag of Denmark.

It should please my Danish neighbour in Vernon Street, although perhaps he is unaware that today is the birthday of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark.

Frederik André Henrik Christian, Kronprins til Danmark was born Copenhagen, 26 May 1968 and is the heir apparent to the Throne of Denmark. Frederik is the elder son of Queen Margrethe II and Count Henrik of Monpezat. If Crown Prince Frederik becomes king, as he is expected to, he will be Frederik X of Denmark.

The national flag of Denmark, Dannebrog, is red with a white Scandinavian cross that extends to the edges of the flag; the vertical part of the cross is shifted to the hoist side. The cross design of the Danish flag was subsequently adopted by the other Nordic countries: Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. During the Danish-Norwegian personal union, Dannebrog ("Danish cloth") was also the flag of Norway and continued to be, with slight modifications, until Norway adopted its current flag in 1821.

Dannebrog is the oldest state flag in the world still in use, with the earliest undisputed source dating back to the 14th century.

Legend says that during the Battle of Lyndanisse, also known as the Battle of Valdemar (Danish: "Volmerslaget"), near Lyndanisse (Tallinn) in Estonia, on June 15 1219, the flag fell from the sky during a critical stage, resulting in Danish victory.

Flying on Monday May 25 2009

2009-05-24T21:42:00.000+01:00

Today I am flying my Argentine Flag. It is a public holiday in Argentina, the anniversary of the First Independent Government in Buenos Aires, the Revolución de Mayo Revolution in Buenos Aires in 1810, first step towards independence.

I visited Argentina in 1990, spending 3 weeks travelling around this vast and fascinating country. I try to have a flag for every country I have visited, but sadly I have not visited every country for which I have a flag.

The Official Ceremonial flag of Argentina dates from 1812. It is a triband, composed of three equally wide horizontal bands coloured light blue, white and light blue. In 1818, a yellow Sun of May was added to the center.The Sun of May is a representation of the Inca sun god Inti. It is a replica of an engraving on the first Argentine coin.

The full flag featuring the sun is called the Official Ceremonial Flag (Spanish: Bandera Oficial de Ceremonia). The flag without the sun is considered the Ornamental Flag (Bandera de Ornato). While both versions are equally considered the national flag, the ornamental version must always be hoisted below the Official Ceremony Flag. In vexillological terms, the Official Ceremony Flag is the civil, state and war flag and ensign, while the Ornamental Flag is an alternate civil flag and ensign.

The background of Argentina: In 1816, the United Provinces of the Rio Plata declared their independence from Spain. After Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay went their separate ways, the area that remained became Argentina. The country's population and culture were heavily shaped by immigrants from throughout Europe, but most particularly Italy and Spain, which provided the largest percentage of newcomers from 1860 to 1930. Up until about the mid-20th century, much of Argentina's history was dominated by periods of internal political conflict between Federalists and Unitarians and between civilian and military factions. After World War II, an era of Peronist populism and direct and indirect military interference in subsequent governments was followed by a military junta that took power in 1976. Democracy returned in 1983 after a failed bid to seize the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands by force, and has persisted despite numerous challenges, the most formidable of which was a severe economic crisis in 2001-02 that led to violent public protests and the resignation of several interim presidents.

2009-05-24T21:31:00.003+01:00

I have been collecting flags for about 3 years now, I now have over 120, and when the weather is right, and my mood is right, I try to fly a flag each day on my flag pole in Vernon Street Derby. I am often stopped by passers by, local residents, and office workers, who take an interest in the particular flag, and want to know about it. It has been suggested that I put up a small sign to introduce each flag, but I am not so efficient that I feel I can commit myself to do this. So I am going to have a crack at publishing details of flags flown each day on this blog. For those who want to follow, they can now identify the flag by coming to this blog site.

I have not done a blog before, so please excuse my rusty start. Please leave comments and questions.