Flag of the British East India Company (1801)

The flag of the East India Company was used to represent the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

, which was chartered in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in 1600. The flag was altered as the nation changed from England to Great Britain to the United Kingdom. It was initially a red and white striped ensign with the flag of England in the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

. The flag displayed in the canton was later replaced by the

flag of Great Britain The flag of Great Britain, commonly known as King's Colours, the first Union Flag, the Union Jack, or the British flag, was used at sea from 1606 and more generally from 1707 to 1801. It was the first flag of Great Britain. It is the precursor ...

and then the

flag of the United Kingdom The national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack, also known as the Union Flag. The design of the Union Jack dates back to the Act of Union 1801 which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in per ...

, as the nation developed.

Early years

Upon receiving a

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, b ...

to trade in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

from Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

in 1600, the English East India Company adopted a flag of red and white stripes (varying from nine to thirteen stripes in total), with the flag of England in the canton. It was reported that the number of stripes was chosen because many of the East India Company's shareholders were

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

s, and the number thirteen is considered powerful in Freemasonry. However, different reports gave varying initial numbers of stripes. The flag caused problems for the East India Company at first when trading in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...

, because of its use of the

Saint George's Cross In heraldry, Saint George's Cross, the Cross of Saint George, is a red cross on a white background, which from the Late Middle Ages became associated with Saint George, the military saint, often depicted as a crusader. Associated with the cr ...

. In Japan in 1616, the Company's ships were turned away because the cross on the flag was viewed as a symbol of Christianity, which the Japanese had banned in 1614. The

Lê dynasty The Lê dynasty, also known as Later Lê dynasty ( vi, Hậu Lê triều, chữ Hán: 後黎朝 or vi, nhà Hậu Lê, link=no, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), was the longest-ruling Vietnamese dynasty, ruling Đại Việt from 1428 to 1789. The Lê ...

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includ ...

banned the Company from using the flag, believing the cross on it to be an endorsement of Christianity, promotion of which the Tonkinese had prohibited. The Company's trading rivals, the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

, argued on the Company's behalf that the cross was a symbol of the English nation and not of Christianity, but the Tonkinese insisted on banning the flying of the flag unless the cross was removed. In 1673, when the Company attempted to restart trade with Japan, they initially declared they would not change their flag. However, after receiving local advice and a demand for an explanation from the Japanese authorities, the Company began using a flag with red and white stripes, but without the flag of England on it, for trading in the Far East. In 1682 in

Batavia, Dutch East Indies Batavia was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. The area corresponds to present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Batavia can refer to the city proper or its suburbs and hinterland, the Ommelanden, which included the much-larger area of the Residen ...

(modern-day

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...

), the Company flag was at the centre of tensions between the English and Dutch governments after soldiers from the Dutch East India Company were accused of tearing down one of the Company flags. Although the Dutch sent warships to reinforce the area, the event came to nothing, as the person making the accusation was not present on Batavia, and neither the Company directors nor King

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child o ...

had any desire to enter into a military conflict with the Dutch over the matter.

Great Britain

Flag of the British East India Company (1707)

In 1603, when King

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

ascended to the English throne, thus unifying the Crowns of England and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, he created a combined flag of both nations, to be used for a united British state. However, the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advise ...

and

Parliament of Scotland The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...

were reluctant to unite, and wished that the countries remain separate. The king retained his flag for personal use as the

King's Colours The flag of Great Britain, commonly known as King's Colours, the first Union Flag, the Union Jack, or the British flag, was used at sea from 1606 and more generally from 1707 to 1801. It was the first flag of Great Britain. It is the precursor ...

. The East India Company continued using their ensign with the flag of England in the canton. In 1668, King Charles II transferred control of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

to the East India Company. The Company then adopted a new flag including the King's Colours, as was shown when blue cloth, in addition to red and white, was requested for making a new flag for the fort in Bombay "if the King’s colours were to be kept there; 'if not, white and red will be sufficient'”. The King's Colours were later formally adopted as the

when the

Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, wh ...

was formed by the

Acts of Union 1707 The Acts of Union ( gd, Achd an Aonaidh) were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act 1707 passed by the Parliament of Scotland. They put into effect the t ...

at the behest of Queen Anne.

Comparison with American flag

The flag of the East India Company is considered to have inspired the 1775 Grand Union Flag, the first

flag of the United States The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the c ...

, as the two flags were of the same design. This connection is attributed to numerous sources.

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

once gave a speech endorsing the adoption of the Company's flag by the United States as their national flag. He said to

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

, "While the field of your flag must be new in the details of its design, it need not be entirely new in its elements. There is already in use a flag, I refer to the flag of the East India Company." This was a way of symbolising American loyalty to the Crown as well as the United States' aspirations, like those of the East India Company, to be self-governing. Some colonists also felt that the Company could be a powerful ally in the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, as they shared similar aims and grievances against Crown tax policies. Colonists therefore flew the Company's flag, to endorse the Company. However, the theory that the Grand Union Flag was a direct descendant of the flag of the East India Company has been criticised as lacking written evidence. On the other hand, the resemblance is obvious, and a number of the

Founding Fathers of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britai ...

were aware of the East India Company's activities and of their free administration of India under Company rule.

United Kingdom

In 1801, following the unification of Great Britain and the

Kingdom of Ireland The Kingdom of Ireland ( ga, label=Classical Irish, an Ríoghacht Éireann; ga, label= Modern Irish, an Ríocht Éireann, ) was a monarchy on the island of Ireland that was a client state of England and then of Great Britain. It existed from ...

into the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

, the

Union Flag The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

was changed to incorporate Saint Patrick's Saltire. Accordingly, the flag of the East India Company was updated to display the new flag in the canton. In 1858, the British government passed the Government of India Act,

nationalising Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

the East India Company and taking over all of their possessions within India, where they would be considered legally a part of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

Company rule in India Company rule in India (sometimes, Company ''Raj'', from hi, rāj, lit=rule) refers to the rule of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. This is variously taken to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, whe ...

thus ended, and the Company flag ceased to have official status.

Gallery

File:British East India Company Flag from Downman.jpg, Downman (1685) File:British East India Company Flag from Lens.jpg, Lens (1700) File:British East India Company Flag from Rees.jpg, Rees (1820) File:British East India Company Flag from Laurie.jpg, Laurie (1842)

References

External links

{{Commons category, Flags of the British East India Company British East India Company

British India 1858 disestablishments in the British Empire History of India