Blue Ensign

Blue Ensign

Use	State ensign
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	British Government
Design	A blue field with the Union occupying one quarter of the field and placed in the canton.

The Blue Ensign is a flag, one of several British ensigns, used by certain organisations or territories associated or formerly associated with the United Kingdom. It is used either plain or defaced with a badge or other emblem.

The evolution of the Blue Ensign followed that of the Union Jack. The ensign originated in the 17th century with the St George's Cross (the Flag of England) in the canton, and with a blue field.

The Acts of Union 1707 united England and Wales with Scotland in the Kingdom of Great Britain, thus producing a new Blue Ensign with the new Union Flag, containing a saltire, in the canton. With the Act of Union 1800, Ireland became a part of the new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and St Patrick's Cross was incorporated into the Union Flag and, accordingly, into the cantons of all British ensigns from 1 January 1801.

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  The modern Blue Ensign of the United Kingdom
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  The British Blue Ensign (1707–1801)
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  English Blue Ensign as it appeared in the seventeenth century