7. Colours of the 10th Royal Grenadiers, Canada.
A survival of this ancient custom exists to this day in our British military service, both in the Colonial and Imperial forces. Rifle regiments do not carry "colours," but all infantry regiments are entitled, upon receiving the royal warrant, to carry two flags, which are called "Colours" (7).
The "First," or "King's Colour," is the plain "Union Jack," in sign of allegiance to the Sovereign, and upon this, in the centre, is the number or designation of the regiment, surmounted by a royal crown. The "Second," or "Regimental Colour," has a small Union Jack in the upper corner. The body of the flag is of the local colour of the facings of the regiment. If the facings are blue, as in all "Royal" regiments, the flag is blue; if they are white, then the flag is white, having on it a large St. George's cross in addition to the small Union Jack in the upper corner. On the body of this colour are embroidered the regimental badge, the names of actions in which it has taken part, and any distinctive emblems indicating the special history of the regiment itself, and in territorial regiments the locality from which they are recruited. In this way both the national and local methods of distinction are to-day preserved and displayed in the same way as they were in original times; the Union Jack of the present day having been substituted for the St. George's cross of the first period.
Such, then, was the origin of the name Jack, and it is from the combination of the three national "Jacks" of England, Scotland and Ireland, at successive periods in their history, into one flag, that the well-known "Union Jack" of our British nation has gradually grown into its present form.
[CHAPTER IV.]
THE ENGLISH JACK.
A.D. 1194-1606.
The original leader and dominant partner in the three kingdoms, which have been the cradle of the British race throughout the world, was England, and it is her flag which forms the groundwork upon which our Union Flag has been built up.