THE UNION JACK
By Rev. J. R. CRAWFORD
Orders in Council and other official documents refer to this flag as the Union Flag, The Union Jack, Our Jack, The King's Colours, and the Union Banner, which last title precise Heraldry usually adopts. In patriotic songs it is toasted as "The Red, White, and Blue," whilst in the Services men affectionately allude to it as "the dear old duster." But Britons at large cling to the title which heads this chapter; to them it is "The Union Jack."
Why Union? Obviously because it unites three emblems of tutelar saints on one flag, and thereby denotes the union of three peoples under one Sovereign. It is the motto "Tria juncta in Uno" rendered in bunting.
Why Jack? Two theories are propounded, one fanciful, the other probable. Some say "Jack" is the anglicised form of "Jacques," which is the French signature of James I., in whose reign and by whose command the first Union Flag was called into being. Against this at least three reasons may justly be urged: (1) The term "Jack" does not appear—so far as we can discover—in any warrant referring to the Jacobean Flag of 1606. It is rather in later documents that this term occurs. (2) If the earliest Union Flag be a "Jack" just because it is the creation of James, then surely it follows that, to be consistent, later Union Flags, the creations of later sovereigns, should have borne those Sovereigns' names; for example The Union Anne, The Union George! (3) The English way of pronouncing "Jacques" is not, and probably never was Jack, but Jaikes. The other, and more feasible theory, is as follows: The term "Jaque" (e.g. jaque de mailles) was borrowed from the French and referred to any jacket or coat on which, especially, heraldic emblems were blazoned. In days long prior to those of the first Stuart king, mention is made of "whytte cotes with red crosses worn by shyppesmen and men of the cette of London," from which sentence we learn that the emblem of the nation's tutelar saint was (as in yet earlier Crusaders' days) a fighter's emblem. When such emblem or emblems were transferred to a flag,
the term Jaque may well, in course of time, have been also applied to that flag, as previously to the jacket.
Glance now at the story of those Orders in Council which created the various Union flags. The very union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland seems to have accentuated the pettier national jealousies, so that Southrons annoyed Northerners by hoisting the St. George above the St. Andrew, and the Scotchmen retaliated by a species of tu quoque. The King sought to allay these quarrels by creating a British, as other than a purely English or Scottish, flag. But let the Proclamation speak for itself.
"By the King.
"Whereas, some differences hath arisen between Our subjects of South and North Britaine travelling by Seas, about the bearing of their Flagges: For the avoiding of all contentions hereafter, Wee have, with the advice of our Councill, ordered: That from henceforth all our Subjects of this Isle and Kingdome of Great Britaine, and all our members thereof, shall beare in their main-toppe the Red Crosse, commonly called St. George's Crosse, and the White Crosse, commonly called St. Andrew's Crosse, joyned together according to the forme made by our heralds, and sent by Us to our Admerall to be published to our Subjects: and in their fore-toppe our Subjects of South Britaine shall weare the Red Crosse onely as they were wont, and our Subjects of North Britaine in their fore-toppe the White Crosse onely as they were accustomed."—1606.
This attempt at conciliating differences deserved but did not win success. "The King's Owne Shipps" deemed themselves slighted, since all vessels were treated alike in this matter, and so persistent was the agitation that at last, in Charles I.'s reign (1634), another Proclamation was issued "for the honour of Oure Shipps in Oure Navie Royall," whereby those ships alone had the right of hoisting "the Union Flagge." The days of the Commonwealth brought another change, for with the King the King's Flag disappeared. The Protector caused two new flags to be made, viz. The Great Union (a flag little used, however, although it figured at his funeral obsequies), and which may be thus blazoned: Quarterly 1 and 4, The St. George; 2. The St. Andrew; 3. azure, a harp or, for Ireland; over all on an inescutcheon of pretence, sable, a lion rampant or, for the Protector's personal arms, and The Commonwealth Ensign, which latter Parliament treated as the paramount flag. The most interesting features of this flag are that it was of three kinds, one red, one white, one blue, and that Ireland but not Scotland had a place on its folds. When the King came to
his own again yet another change was witnessed. By this Proclamation ships in the Navy were to carry The Union, and all merchantmen The St. George, whilst these latter vessels were also to wear "The Red Ensign with the St. George, on a Canton." Passing on, we reach the days of Queen Anne, who as soon as the union of the two Parliaments was accomplished, issued a famous Proclamation often quoted. Suffice it here to outline its effect.