British Ensign - Other Ensigns

Other Ensigns

• The Royal Air Force Ensign.

• British Civil Air Ensign in use at Hunsdon Airfield.

• The British Civil Air Ensign.

• Ensign of the Air Training Corps

• Ensign of the Royal Observer Corps

The flag of the British East India Company, like the Cambridge or Grand Union Flag of the American colonies, had a red and white striped field. There were similar red-and-white and green-and-white striped ensigns in the English Navy in the 16th century. Similarly in flag plates from the 17th and 18th centuries there are representations of the Guinea Jack of the Royal Africa Company in various forms; the jack consisted of a St George's Cross within a double border of red and white chequers. The flag of Hawaii is a British ensign with a background of white, red and blue stripes.

Also in existence is a Royal Air Force (RAF) ensign and a civil air ensign, both of which have a sky blue field, with the Union Flag in the canton. The RAF Ensign is defaced with the red-white-blue RAF roundel, while the field of the civil air ensign is charged with a large dark blue cross fimbriated white. The flag of Tuvalu and that of Fiji are also defaced sky blue ensigns.

The white ensign of the Commissioner of the Northern Lighthouse Board is unique in that it remains the only example of a pre-1801 Union Flag in official use today. This flag is only flown from vessels with Commissioners aboard.

There are two "yellow" ensigns in use in the South Pacific, both featuring the Southern Cross. The personal flag of the Governor of Victoria, Australia, has been the flag of Victoria with a yellow instead of a dark blue background. The flag of Niue, a self-governing dependency of New Zealand, is also a yellow ensign. More unusually, it is the Union Flag canton rather than the fly which is defaced with a modified Southern Cross.

There is some evidence of the existence of a Green Ensign in British Ireland, defaced with a gold Irish harp in the fly. It is not clear to what extent this unofficial ensign was ever in use by Irish merchant ships at the time.

The flag of the British Antarctic Territory has a white field defaced with the Territory's badge, while the British Indian Ocean Territory flag has a white and blue wavy-striped field, also defaced.