Flag of Sark

Sark
Flag of Sark
UseFlag of Sark[1][2]
Proportion3:5
Adopted1938 (as Seigneur's flag)
2020 (as Sark's flag)
DesignArgent, a Cross Gules, in the Canton two Lions passant guardant Or
Sark flags (Herbert Pitt’s design), displayed in a shop window

The flag of Sark is white with a red St. George's cross and a red canton containing the two yellow lions (or in heraldic terms "Leopards") from the flag of Normandy. The flag was formally granted as the Flag of Sark in 2020.[1][2]

The previous unofficial design by Herbert Pitt in 1938 and adopted the same year as the personal standard of the Seigneur of Sark before unofficially becoming the island's flag in 1987.[3] The canton is similar to the arms of Normandy, of which the Channel Islands are historically a part. Unlike the classic White Ensigns, the lions of the flag of Sark in the original grant protrude outside the canton and overflow the red cross.[4][5]

The flag is flown from the Ministry of Justice in London on 6 August to mark the granting of the fief on that day in 1565. The Ministry of Justice is the British government department responsible for relations with the Crown Dependencies.[6][7]

History[edit]

Sark is a Channel Island part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It was originally part of the Duchy of Normandy and was owned by the monarchs of England from 1066 when Duke William of Normandy successfully invaded England and assumed the English throne. By the late Middle Ages, Sark had become a hotbed for piracy and other criminal activities.[8] On 6 August 1565, Queen Elizabeth I appointed Hellier de Carteret as the Seigneur of Sark (known as the Dame of Sark when the holder is female) to prevent it becoming a pirate island.[8] The office would be hereditary and the holder had to pay the English (and later British) monarch £1.79 annually for the right to rule the island as a feudal fief.[9] As of 9 December 2008, the day before democracy was introduced to Sark, the island was the last feudal state in the Western world.[10]

The Seigneur's flag

The flag of Sark was designed in 1938 when the Dame of Sark, Dame Sibyl Hathaway, approached Herbert Pitt to design a personal standard for herself.[11][12] The flag was also referred to as the Seigneur's flag.[13] The story that Dame Sibyl had told the Flag Institute, that the flag had been in use for "at least two hundred years", is doubted.[14]

The flag remained as the Seigneur's flag following the Second World War and the German occupation of the Channel Islands. In the 1960s, Dame Sibyl sold the tenement of the island of Brecqhou to Leonard Matchan. Upon taking up the tenancy, he adopted his own flag for Brecqhou using the Seigneur's flag as the basis and sewed his own personal coat of arms onto it.[15] In 1993, when the tenement was purchased by David and Frederick Barclay, they also adopted their own flag by using the Seigneur's flag with their coat of arms defacing it.[16]

In 1987, when Sark was invited to participate in the inaugural Island Games,[17] it was noted the island had no individual flag to represent it. Accordingly, the Seigneur John Michael Beaumont granted permission for the Seigneur's flag to be used as the flag of Sark.[11] The flag was formally granted to Sark on 4 June 2020 by Elizabeth II; this was the final direct heraldic grant made by her before her death.[2]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Recent Grants of Arms". College of Arms. Official registers of coats of arms and pedigrees. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "January 2023 Newsletter (no. 70)". College of Arms. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Bailiwick of Guernsey, Channel Islands". Retrieved 15 April 2008.
  4. ^ "The Flag of Sark". BBC News Guernsey. 3 April 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Flag of Sark". Flag Institute. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Ministry of Justice raises Sark flag for Fief dayMinistry of Justice raises Sark flag for Fief day". Guernsey Press. 6 August 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  7. ^ "Sark flag flown on Ministry of Justice building in London for Liberation Day". Guernsey Press. ITV. 10 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Sark". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  9. ^ Reilly, Lucas (6 November 2018). "How the World's Only Feudal Lord Outclassed the Nazis to Save Her People". Mental Floss. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  10. ^ "Lost world: the last days of feudal Sark". The Independent. 22 September 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  11. ^ a b "The Flag of Sark". BBC. 22 July 2004. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  12. ^ Bollini, Cristina (2019). "Sark". Le bandiere - tutti i colori del mondo (in Italian). Youcanprint. ISBN 9788831602709.
  13. ^ Clark, Leonard (1956). Sark Discovered. Dent. p. 8. ISBN 9780234773369.
  14. ^ "Sark, Channel Islands". Crwflags.com. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  15. ^ Johnson, Henry. "Sark and Brecqhou" (PDF). Shima Journal. p. 22. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  16. ^ "On Island of Sark, Twin British Brothers Joust with Feudalism". Wall Street Journal. 11 October 2005. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  17. ^ "Second Island Games Guernsey 1987". Island Games Association. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
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