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An ensign is a flag or banner used in the Army and Navy. The British naval ensign is red, white or blue, with a small Union Jack in the upper corner. The red ensign is flown by the Merchant fleet, the blue by the Royal Navy Reserve and the white, which includes a red St George's cross by the Royal Navy.
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In its most popular usage, a flag is a piece of bunting, usually but not always, square or rectangular in shape, attached to a pole and used as a standard, ensign or signal for display or decoration, and to distinguish one company, party, or nationality from another. Formerly in Britain, a black flag was raised outside prisons to announce the execution of a prisoner. Traditionally in Britain, when in mourning flags are lowered to halfway down the pole and 'flown at half mast'.
In the army a flag is a banner by which one regiment is distinguished from another. Flags borne on the masts of vessels not only designate the country to which they belong, but also are made to denote the quality of the officer by whom a ship is commanded. Thus in the British navy an admiral's flag was displayed at the maintop-gallant-mast-head, a vice-admiral's at the foretop-gallant-mast-head, and a rear-admiral's at the mizzen-top-gallant-mast-head.
In the navy the supreme flag of Great Britain is the royal standard, which is only to be hoisted when the sovereign or one of the royal family is on board the vessel. All British ships of war in commission carry the white ensign, that is a white flag divided into four quarters by the red cross of St George and having the union flag (or union 'jack' as it is popularly called) in the upper corner next the staff.
British merchant ships are entitled to carry a red flag with the union in the corner. The union is the flag commonly used on shore as the national ensign. To lower or strike the flag is to pull it down, or take it in, out of respect or submission to superiors. To lower or strike the flag in an engagement is a sign of yielding. A sign of mourning is to hoist the flags at a half or two-thirds of the height of the masts, if on land at half the height of the staff. Besides the use of flags as distinguishing emblems, a very important use of them at sea, both by national and mercantile navies, is as signals according to an arranged code.
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Gabriel's Insurrection was an insurrection incited among the Negro slaves of the vicinity of Richmond, Virginia. in 1800, by a slave of Thomas Prosser, called 'General Gabriel', and 'Jack Bowler'. They intended to attack Richmond by night with a thousand Negroes and murder the inhabitants. An escaped Negro revealed the plot. Governor James Monroe ordered out the militia and attacked the insurgents. The ringleaders were captured and 'punished'.
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Hanswurst is the name of a standing comic character on the older German stage, corresponding in its grotesque traits and mirth-making qualities to the English clown or Italian harlequin. The name is equivalent to the Jack Pudding of England.
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A jack is a small drinking vessel made of waxed leather.
A nursery rhyme is a short traditional poem or song for children. Usually limited to a couplet or quatrain with strongly marked rhythm and rhymes,
nursery rhymes have often been handed down by oral tradition. Some of the oldest nursery rhymes are connected with a traditional tune and were sung as accompaniment to ancient ring games, such as 'Here we go round the mulberry bush', which was part of the May Day festivities. Others contain fragments of incantations and other rites; still others have a factual basis and commemorated popular figures, such as Jack Sprat and Jack Horner.
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Tale of a Tub is the title of a comedy written by Ben Jonson in 1633.
Tale of a Tub is a satirical poem written by Jonathan Swift in 1696, and first published anonymously in 1704. The satire is directed against church divisions and deals with three brothers: Peter (the Church of Rome), Martin (Luther) and Jack (Calvin). It is generally accepted that the poem prevented Jonathan Swift's preferment to a bishopric.
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The Sullivans was an Australian soap-opera television series following the lives of a fictional suburban Australian family and their friends during the Second World War. The Sullivans was created by Jack Blair and Ian Jones and ran from 1976 to 1983.
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The Union Flag (formerly known as the Great Union and popularly known as the 'Union Jack') is the British royal flag. It was first produced in 1606 in response to a royal proclamation of James I with the object of providing a single flag for both England (including Wales) and Scotland which might put an end to disputes concerning the precedence of their respective banners of St George and St Andrew. The Union Flag combined the blazonry of the two rival ensigns, not marshalling them by quartering, but by blending them into a single composition. This was achieved by charging the cross of St George with a narrow white border and placing it on the banner of St Andrew. On the first of January 1801 the second Union Flag superseded the flag of King James and Queen Anne with the incorporation of the banner of Ireland, the saltire of St Patrick, following the Union with Ireland. The Union Flag has never been officially adopted by law, and as such remains a royal flag. The United Kingdom, unlike other countries doesn't have a national flag, though the Union Flag is accepted as such by its widespread usage.
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The Union Jack Club was a British institution for sailors, soldiers, and airmen. Soon after the close of the South African War steps were taken to establish a national memorial to the soldiers who fell in that war, and the scheme of a club where service men could meet was taken in hand. Named the Union Jack Club, a site for it was selected in the Waterloo Road, London, in close proximity to the station there. The club premises were opened on July the 1st, 1907, by King Edward VII. Membership was limited to all service men below the rank of officer. There they could deposit their kit, obtain good meals and a comfortable bedroom at a moderate charge. There was a library and writing-room, baths, barber's shop, club store at which everything for ordinary use could be purchased, including tobacco, and all the usual amenities of club life. In 1920 an extension called the Prince of Wales' wing was undertaken as a memorial to the service of the forces in the Great War. The cost of this and the original club was met by public subscriptions all over the empire.
The benefits of the Union Jack Club in the Great War were inestimable. All mobilised men including those from the Overseas Dominions and Allied countries, were given the use of the club.
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The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia
Southampton, United Kingdom
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