The Jersey Flag

IN BRIEF: The present Jersey flag (a red diagonal cross on a white background, with three gold leopards on a red crest surmounted by a gold crown in the top triangle) replaced the old, unofficial flag (the same without crest and crown) in 1979. The presidents of the States committees decided in the jubilee year (1977) to commemorate the event by getting an officially recognised flag.

The red saltire in a white field had been adopted as the Jersey flag from about the 1820's. The crest is the Jersey arms and the crown (a plantagenet crown) is a reminder that the crest has been used by Jersey since the time of Edward I.

IN MORE DETAIL: The red diagonal cross on a white background is the flag of the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Kildare. It was adopted by the Kingdom of Ireland, then by the Knights of St Patrick, and incorporated into the Union Jack. The earliest association of the flag with Jersey seems to be in Bowle's "universal display of the naval flags of all nations" (1783), although Captain John Tessin-Yandell claims to have found the association made in French naval charts dating back to 1757. Bowle drew on Dutch charts by Van Keulen (c.1720), who drew on Allard, who drew on two plates in "neptune francois" (Amsterdam 1693) where the "argent, a saltire gules" is labelled "ierse" at the top and "irlandois" at the bottom. Major Rybot believes that Bowle was wrong to take "ierse" to be Jersey, since the Dutch for Irish is "iers." But, Tessin-Yandel says that "ierse" did not exist as a declension of "iers" before 1923 and in the context the correct declension would have been "iersche" anyway. Also the old French word for jersey was "iersé." The debate will continue until an association of the flag with Jersey from before 1783 is discovered, but the flag does not appear on coins, in paintings etc. Pre 19th century it began to appear on states buildings, at official functions etc from 1841.

For further information about the leopards detailed on the flag please visit the following website: www.societe-jersiaise.org/history/leopards or the late Major Rybot’s definitive paper ‘The Leopards of England and the Channel Islands’ which is printed in the Bulletin of the Société Jersiaise, Vol XIV.

PTGH wish to thank Jersey Tourism for their help in providing the above information.
15/11/07