Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 66, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 March 1920 — EXPLAINING “JACK” IN FLAG [ARTICLE]

EXPLAINING “JACK” IN FLAG

Origin of Emblem of tho British Empire Goes Back to tho Days of Plate Armor. “The Star-Spangled Banner” explains Itself; like the “tricolor” of France. But who put the Jack in Union Jack? This curious term, which is the only name by which we know the British flag, has been the subject of much surmise; but so unique is its history that you would never guess it tn a thousand years 1 )n ancient times every English soldier in the field wore the protecting "Jacque" or surtout (over all), which was a garment of padded leather interspersed with pieces of plate armor, upon the breast the crimson cross of St George. When the soldiers had occasion to board a ship their Jacques were placed next each other along the bulwarks of the ship in the same way that the Romans arranged their shields on board their galleys. The Jacques so afforded the men protection against the arrows of their adversaries on the water, and by their device upon the outer side proclaimed the nationality of the ship. Excepting the king’s own ship, which flew the royal arms on a silken sail, the Jacques bore the only indication of the nationality of a vessel. In the course of time, when the Jacques were not longer needed along the bulwarks, a solitary jacque was probably displayed at the bowsprit, and so the name "Jack” came into use for the flag that superseded it. In 1801 the three kingdoms of England, Ireland and Scotland were formally united and the British flag made a combination of the cross of St. George for England, of St. Andrew for Scotland and of St. Patrick for Ireland. It was this union which made the British flag the “Union Jack.”