The England Flag consists of three
elements: the cross of St. George (red on white) for England, the cross of St.
Andrew (white diagonal on blue) for Scotland, and the so-called cross of St.
Patrick (red diagonal on white) for Ireland. The original Union Jack/Union Flag
adopted in 1606 was symmetrical: the red cross of St. George outlined in white
overlaid on top of a St. Andrew's flag, which was blue with a white X.
In 1801, an Act of Union which made Ireland a co-equal
member of the United Kingdom made it necessary to add a symbol for Ireland to
the flag, but without obliterating any of the existing symbols. If the St.
Patrick's cross had been centered on the diagonal stripes, then St. Andrew's
cross would have been relegated to an inferior position, basically serving only
as a border for St. Patrick's. The solution was to divide the diagonal stripes
diagonally, so that the red St. Patrick's cross would take up only half of each
stripe, and so that half devoted to St. Andrew would take the place of honor. Thus,
in the two hoist quarters, the white St. Andrew's cross occupies the upper
position, and in the two fly quarters, the red St. Patrick's cross occupies the
upper position.
That is only done with ensigns, in which the Union
emblem occupies only the upper hoist quarter of the flag. When a British (or
American) ensign is flown "union down," it is obviously
distinguishable from one flown in the normal fashion. An upside-down Union Jack
is not sufficiently different from a right side-up Union Jack to be useful as a
signal of anything except that the person hoisting it wasn't paying attention.
As originally designed (and approved prior to
introduction) the flag had red and white saltires of even width (counterchanged
at the central point as Joe explained) with a white fimbriation added to the
red. The present design where the white fimbriation is actually taken from the
red making the saltire of St Patrick narrower than that of St Andrew was an
Admiralty variant - dating originally from the shortly after the introduction
in 1801 - which has become established as the official design (except for
military colours which have even saltires).
If the St Patrick's Cross was centred on the St
Andrew's Cross, then it would look like Andrew was just a fimbriation for
Patrick. In reality, they are equal, and so you will note that the thin white
stripe next to the St Patrick's Cross is a fimbriation, whereas the Saint
Andrew's Cross of course needs no fimbriation. Why the anticlockwise attitude
of St Patrick vis-à-vis St Andrew? Because The St Andrew's Cross, representing
Scotland, the older member of the United Kingdom, comes before Saint Patrick
for Ireland, a younger addition. When it was decided that the flags of England
and Scotland should be joined, "the plan adopted was not simply to unite
or join the two flags, but was an attempt to more than unite; the intention was
to amalgamate and interlace or combine the two so as to produce an appearance
of complete union." The Union Jack by Emanuel Green, Archaeological
Journal December 1891). Impalement and quartering would each have resulted in a
flag where one or other of the constituent flags was in the superior position;
next to the hoist, or in the upper canton. Combining the two flags avoided
this, and heraldically could be done in one of two ways. The alternative to the
chosen method results in a white saltire fimbriated blue over the flag of St
George, with additional fimbriation of white where the blue fimbriation crosses
the red cross. It was not an attempt to place the English cross in a superior
position. The Scottish variant is not heraldically correct since it is based on
a blue flag, which is not the flag of either country.
In the 1801 pattern of UJ, as originally designed, the
saltires of St Andrew and St Patrick were of even width, and were
"counter-changed" so as to give them (as nearly as possible) equal
importance, however, as the older symbol (and an established national flag) the
St Andrew was placed uppermost in the first quarter thus quite rightly giving
it the "position of honour" and precedence.
The official specification is based on 1/30ths of the
width (or height) of the flag. The St George's Cross is 6/30ths (1/5th) of the
width, the fimbriations to it are 2/30ths (1/15th) of the width. The St
Andrew's Cross is a total of 6/30ths (1/5th) of the width, measured
perpendicularly to the diagonal. This is made up, in the top hoist corner, top
to bottom, of 3/30ths white, 2/30ths red, 1/30th white. These dimensions apply
regardless of the length of the flag. An accurate drawing of the flag can be
found at this page, or on our page here.
My sources tell me that the proportions of Royal Navy
flags were set at 1:2 for ensigns and jacks, and 2:3 for command flags "
early in Queen Victoria's reign". Christopher Southworth, 18 April 2003
The Admiralty Flag Book of 1889 is not precise: "The
practice has been, in regard to the dimensions of flags generally, to make the
length twice the breadth at the head. Admiral, length is one and a half times
breadth."
