12 April: The Union Jack

On this date in 1606 The Union Jack was adopted as the official Flag of the United Kingdom. Here are ten things you might not know about the British flag.

1. The crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland were united in 1603 when James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne after Elizabeth I died without issue. The first version of the flag, adopted 12 April 1606, only combined the St George Cross of England and the St Andrew's Cross of Scotland.
2. The new flag was called the Union Jack because the Latin version of the name James is Jacobus, and Jack is short for Jacobus. There is debate about whether the term Union Jack can be used for the flag other than at sea and whether the correct term is "Union Flag" instead. While the debate continues, researchers have discovered that either term is historically correct.
3. To begin with, the Union Jack was only used at sea, while on land, the St George or St Andrew crosses were still used. After the Acts of Union 1707, the flag became "the ensign armorial of the Kingdom of Great Britain".
4. The Union Jack as we know it today didn't come about until 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. At this point St Patrick's cross was added to the design.
5. Up until then, it hadn't mattered which way up the flag was flown. The addition of St Patrick's cross and heraldic rules which stated certain colours had to be separated by strips of colour (in the case of the Union Jack, White, known in heraldry as a fimbriation) meant there was a correct way to fly the flag. If flown correctly the thicker white stripe of the combined St Andrew and St Patrick crosses must be on top. This is expressed by the phrases wide white top and broad side up. It is often said that flying the flag the wrong way up is a sign of distress, or an insult - but the difference is quite subtle and easily missed by those not familiar with the flag.
6. Luckily for them, there isn't an official code of conduct surrounding the British flag as there is for the American flag which means it has to be folded in a particular way. The British flag merely needs to be folded, and can be used on products and merchandise.
7. You may be wondering why there is nothing on the flag to represent Wales. The reason for this is that when the flag was originally adopted in 1603 Wales was already a principality of England having been annexed by Edward I of England in 1282. In recent years there have been debates in Parliament about the possibility of adding a Welsh element to the flag, such as a small Welsh Dragon in the middle. There have also been calls to include a fourth colour, Black, to represent the diversity of the population. This campaign, started in 2003, is now defunct since it didn't garner enough support and was dismissed as "ridiculous tokenism".
8. The Union Jack is normally twice as long as it is tall, a ratio of 1:2. The ground of the current Union Flag is a deep "navy" Blue (Pantone 280) and the Red is Pantone 186.
9. The Union flag appears on the flags of other nations such as Australia and New Zealand. Many former colonies also used it but have mostly adopted their own flags on gaining independence. These countries include Barbados, Borneo, Burma, Canada, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Trinidad, Uganda, and the United States. In the USA, one state flag, that of Hawaii, incorporates a Union Jack to this day. The story behind this is said to be as follows: Back when Hawaii was a kingdom, its king once asked the British mariner, George Vancouver why he had a piece of cloth flying from his ship. Vancouver replied that it represented his king's authority. The Hawaiian king the flag as a symbol of his own royal authority, without realising its status as a national flag. No other states use it, but the city of Baton Rouge incorporates the 1603 version as part of its city flag.
10. While anyone can fly a Union Jack on land, at sea, the rules are different. Only military ships can use the Union Jack as is - other vessels must use an ensign which is a flag of red white or blue (depending on the status of the vessel) with the Union Jack in the corner. To use the unmodified flag at sea is a criminal offence.

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