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British Straits Settlements 1826-1946 (Malaysia)

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by Mario Fabretto
Flag adopted 1874, discontinued 1942

Description
History

See also:

Description

The Straits Settlement, "a British colony which comprises Singapore, Penang, and Malacca, on the Strait of Malacca, has for a badge a red diamond with three crowns on a three-armed field of white."

Josh Fruhlinger, 20 February 1996

The imperial crowns, which replaced the earlier squarish Victorian crowns in about 1904, were in full colour, mainly gold and red, but also green, blue and shades of grey if you have all the detailing. Early versions of the ensign tended to have the badge in the lower fly, but the correct position is in the centre of the fly, the length of the horizontal axis of the lozenge being five sixteenths of the length of the whole flag.

David Prothero, 6 June 1998

What was the flag of the British colony Straits Settlements between 1867 and 1911? Was the badge with three crow[n]s granted in 1911?

Jaume Ollé, 27 March 2001

To be precise, the flag of Straits Settlements, established 1826, was the Union Flag. The "three crowns on a lozenge" badge that was used on the Union Flag of the Governor when afloat, and the Blue Ensign of government vessels appeared on a printed sheet of colonial badges, produced by the Admiralty, that was being circulated in 1874 (Source: Public Record Office, Kew, CO 323/318). However a drawing in the Colonial Office Record Book shows a Blue Ensign with one gold crown in the lower fly. It is dated 1877 and has the note, "Governor informed that above badge should not have been changed without authorisation and must still be considered the badge of the colony." (Source: Public Record Office, Kew, CO 325/54).

I am not sure but it is likely that each of the three original settlements had its own seal and that there was therefore no obvious badge to represent the whole colony. The Colonial Office seem to have assumed that a crown would be used as the badge until a suitable one had been selected and approved, but that the governor went ahead and devised a badge without approval. The same problem arose in West African Settlements, but in t