Letter: From the beginning, the Ulster Banner has been a civil flag rather than a state one
A letter from Samuel McKittrick:
When Northern Ireland was established in 1921 it was originally envisioned that Northern Ireland would continue to use the Provincial arms of Ulster.
However, in 1922 John Anderson - then a minister in the Home Office – had correspondence with Col Wilkinson, the Ulster King of Arms, regarding “political considerations” of arms and expressed a desire that the arms will be “acceptable to Northern Ireland without needlessly offending sentiment elsewhere”.
It was the Duke of Abercorn who advised that the yellow field be replaced with a white one, turning the Burke Cross into one of St George, thus “typifying that Northern Ireland was a portion of the United Kingdom”.
The finalised arms granted in August 1924 were thus the cross of St George with a red hand in a white six-pointed star imposed upon it, with the star being topped with the heraldic representation of the Imperial State Crown.
The NI government did not at this stage adopt a civil flag, it instead solely used the Union Flag.
Despite the government policy of only using the Union Flag there was evidently a desire among many Northern Irish citizens to display a flag that was unique to them.
A series of unofficial Northern Ireland flags were used by private citizens throughout the first half of the 20th century. These generally took the form of a blue ensign defaced towards the fly with an escutcheon of a red hand or the provincial arms of Ulster.
It was the coronation of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II that changed things. This occasion saw much flag-waving which included many of the unofficial NI ensigns. Thus, the government sought to introduce the Ulster Banner for the visit of the new Queen.
The Ulster Banner was first flown in 1953 for the Queen’s visit, with the minister of home affairs announcing that “while the Union Flag is the only standard officially recognised, those who wish to have a distinctive Ulster symbol could use the banner”.
After the Royal visit the Northern Ireland government flag flying policy was little altered by the Ulster Banner, with the Union Jack being the preferred flag to fly from public buildings.
Hence the Ulster Banner was from the start a civil flag rather than a state one – which means its status regarding its officiality is the same post-1973 as before 1973. This lack of any official document of legislation making it the national flag is something that also applies to all flags of the other UK nations. Being a heraldic banner of a state coat of arms no longer in use is not unique to the Ulster Banner.
The flag of Wales and the Ulster Banner both date from the late 20th century although they are derived from symbols that are much older. They are banners derived from heraldic symbols that are no longer in official use, and they are both used as unique flags for constituent parts of the UK.
In the UK we have a distinct lack of official flags. We generally lack legislation that enshrines any flag as ‘official’ - our flags instead get their legitimacy through history, use and precedent.
That’s the case for the flags of England, Scotland and Wales (and the Union Flag) and it’s the case for the Ulster Banner which has gained this over the past century.
Samuel McKittrick, Londonderry