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British Rule in India

British Rule in India
Star of India
Flags and Ensigns with the Star of India
Ensign of local naval vessels
Standard of the Director of the Royal Indian Marine
Royal Indian Army Service Corps

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British Rule in India

India didn't conform to any of the rules, not being a Dominion, but having some Dominion-like status (it was a member of the League of Nations) and not really being a colony either. Its flag was the Union Jack bearing the insignia of the Order of the Star of India. It had a Blue and Red Ensign, too.
Roy Stilling, 6 February 1996

Until 1858 the British possessions in India were fiefdoms of the East India Company (EIC). In that year those territories passed to the Crown, who nevertheless continued to appoint a Governor-General of the whole as the EIC had done. In 1876, at Disraeli's behest, Queen Victoria adopted the title of Empress of India, and henceforth India became known officially as the "Indian Empire" with a Viceroy instead of a Governor-General.

In theory, the large numbers of "Princely States" which made up 2/5 of the territory and 1/5 of the population (source: Whitaker's Almanac 1945) of the Indian Empire (the term "British India" was properly reserved for the territories under the British Crown) were independent, sovereign states. However, they all had treaties with the Crown that effectively made them protectorates, and events like the Delhi Durbar of 1910 emphasised the idea that the King-Emperor was suzerain over the whole sub-continent. As a digression, until just a few years ago it was possible to find 1948 shillings in one's change - the last British coins to have "IND. IMP." among the royal titles.

That the Princely States had no real freedom was made plain at independence in 1947 when they were ordered to chose absorption into either India or Pakistan (the choice of the Hindu Ruler of mainly-Muslim Kashmir to opt for India is the cause of the tensions there that persist to this day). Only Hyderabad, the largest and most populous State, attempted to re-assert its independence and if I recall correctly it bowed to the inevitable and joined India in 1948. I believe all the States had flags, but don't know of any.

Finally, India's special status was recognised within the British government too - from 1858 to 1947 India had its own its own department, the India Office, and Secretary of State, quite separate from the Colonial Office.
Roy Stilling, 8 February 1996

Star of India

Ed Haynes, 28 July 1996

The star of the Grand Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, the highest class of the Star of India and the star that appears all over the place on British &quo