Flag Collection

    Red Ensign Post Union Act 1800

    1707 - 1800

    Upon the legislative union of England and Scotland in 1707, the tiny Royal Scots Navy came to an end as a separate force, and the "Union" colours (invented on the union of the two crowns a hundred years before) were inserted in all ensigns, naval and mercantile. An Order in Council of 21 July 1707 established as naval flags of the royal standard the Union flag and "the ensign directed by her Majesty since the said Union of the two Kingdoms", which from the coloured drafts attached to the order is seen to be the red ensign. The white and blue ensigns are not mentioned in this Order; evidently the red ensign was alone regarded as the legal ensign of Great Britain and the others as merely variations of it for tactical purposes.[7] In 1707, Acts of Union, ratifying the Treaty of Union, which had been agreed the previous year, were passed by the parliaments of England and Scotland, thereby uniting the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England (which included the Principality of Wales) into a new state with the name "Kingdom of Great Britain". This resulted in a new red ensign which placed the first Union Flag, inncluding a saltire in the first quarter. The new design of the Red Ensign was proclaimed by Queen Anne (1665–1714, reigned 1702–1714), who indicated that it was to be used by both the navy and ships owned by "our loving subjects". The flag was flown by ships of the Thirteen Colonies in North America before the American Revolution. Modification of the flag was used to express the discontent of the colonists before and during the outbreak of the revolution.[8] This can be seen in both the Taunton flag and the George Rex flag.[9] It also formed the basis of the Grand Union Flag of 1775, which served as the first American national flag, although it differed slightly from the primary Red Ensign in that it had a squared Union Flag in the canton.

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