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. Research Flag
The Stars and Stripes (also 'Old Glory') is a popular name for the flag of the USA. The original flag was based upon the Grand Union Flag which had thirteen stripes of red and white representing the colonies and the British flag in the top left corner. Following American independence, the British flag was removed and replaced with a blue canton containing thirteen stars, twelve in a circle surrounding one in the centre which represented the thirteen states seceding from the British crown. In 1795, after two more states joined the Union the flag was altered to comprise fifteen stars and fifteen stripes and was known as the 'Star Spangled Banner'. The arrangement of the stars was later changed to form diagonal lines, and in 1817 Congress decreed that the flag should revert to the original thirteen stripes, but that new stars should be added as the union grew, and in 1818 the stars were grouped to form a large star of five points. In 1819 the stars were moved to a perpendicular arrangement. After 1960 when Hawaii joined the union the flag comprised fifty stars. Research Stars And Stripes
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. Research Union Flag
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