![[Guelph, Ontario]](../images/c/ca-on-gu-l.gif)
image by Peter Orenski,
17 November 2012based on research and information provided by James Croft and Kevin Harrington
Last modified: 2018-07-05 by rob raeside
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image by Peter Orenski,
17 November 2012
based on research and information
provided by James Croft
and Kevin Harrington
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Guelph is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly 28 km east of Kitchener and 100 km west of Toronto. It is the seat of Wellington County, but is politically independent of it.
Text and image(s) from Canadian City Flags, Raven 18 (2011), courtesy of the North American Vexillological Association, which retains copyright. Image(s) by permission of Eugene Ipavec.
The flag of the City of Guelph is a horizontal bicolour, red over
white. In the upper hoist is the head of a Hanoverian horse in white, facing
the hoist. In the lower hoist is an “ancient”, or open, crown of three visible
points, in red. Both figures are outlined in black, with black details.
John M. Purcell, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
The colours come from the city’s coat of arms and allude
to the national colours of Canada. The horse head and crown are simplified
depictions of the horse and crowns on the arms, which symbolize the royal
family of Hanover, descended from the Guelfs of Germany and Italy. John
Galt, the settler who cut down the first tree to found Guelph in 1827, gave it
that name because the king of the United Kingdom at the time was George
IV, a member of the Brunswick-Hanover line, and hence a descendant of
the Guelphs (as the British spell the name). Guelph is therefore known as
Canada’s “Royal City”. Moreover, on 24 April 1879 Mayor George Howard
declared the municipality to be a lawful city, after which Alderman MacMillan
raised the royal standard on the flag-staff of the speakers’ platform, symbolizing
the “Royal City”.
John M. Purcell, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
Darrel Kennedy, a resident of Guelph; he later became Assiniboine
Herald, Canadian Heraldic Authority.
John M. Purcell, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
The flag is not a banner of arms in the traditional
sense, but uses key elements of the arms in its design. Because Guelph
also has a true banner of arms flag (see below), which represents the city’s
government, this flag is known as the “citizens’ flag”. Although adopted
in 1993, it was finally first waved (by hand) on 24 October 2001 by former
mayor Norm Jary and raised at an official function for the first time on 23
April 2002 at City Hall during the city’s 175th anniversary in the presence
of the lieutenant governor of Ontario.
John M. Purcell, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
This flag is that of the citizens of Guelph. There is also an official flag for the mayor.
Peter Allen Devries, 16 July 2004
![[Guelph, Ontario]](../images/c/ca-on-gu3-l.gif)
1:2 image by
Eugene Ipavec
Source: Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18
The city’s second flag, still used as the governmental
flag, is the banner of arms created as a result of
the grant of arms from the English Garter King
of Arms, for which Darrel Kennedy was the agent
between the city and Windsor Herald at the College
of Arms. A carving was produced in 1977 by
Eric Barth, assisted by local historians, for the city’s
sesquicentennial. However, it had been based on
preliminary art and omitted material from the final blazon. The grant of arms
was issued on 8 May 1978 and the Letters Patent were presented to the city
on 28 September 1978 by York Herald. A number of heraldic errors in the
first arms were corrected. The new arms retain the white horse, but it is now
of the Hanoverian breed; the green bars are reduced in width to stripes; and
in the white field at the top are two ancient red crowns, with a third centred
in the shield’s lower third, all alluding to royal connections. The banner of
arms places the charges from the shield on a white flag that is nearly square,
10:9. The colours date from 1879 and derive from the arms of the County
of Kent, England.
John M. Purcell, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
![[Guelph, Ontario]](../images/c/ca-on-gu2-l.gif)
1:2 image by
Eugene Ipavec
A variant of the banner of arms is also
sometimes used, having been approved
only by the city council. This flag, in 1:2
proportions, has GUELPH and CANADA
inscribed in black serif letters on either side of the lower crown. Hence,
Guelph has the unique distinction of having three city flags in use
simultaneously.
John M. Purcell, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
The flag for the City of Guelph, Ontario can be seen at
http://mayorsblog.guelph.ca/2008/11/11/rembrance-day-recognizing-service,
where it is described as the City of Guelph flag.
Valentin Poposki, 9 July 2011
![[Guelph, Ontario]](../images/c/ca-on-guo-l.gif)
1:2 image by
Eugene Ipavec
Source: Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18
The flag, in proportions of roughly 2:3,
has a medium blue field with the city’s first coat of arms edged in white, about
half the flag’s width, in the centre. Beneath the arms is GUELPH – CANADA
in white, running two-thirds the length of the flag. The arms show a
simple white shield with two green horizontal bars, one in the lower half of
the shield’s upper third, and the other in the upper half of the shield’s lower
third. Two narrow white horizontal stripes separate the green bars from a red
field that makes up the centre third of the shield. On the red field is a white
horse, galloping toward the hoist. On the left is a woodsman (John Galt)
holding an axe over his shoulder. On the right is Britannia holding a cornucopia
with assorted fruit and leaves. Against her right leg leans an oval shield,
bearing the flag of Britain used in 1827. The crest has what was earlier, and
erroneously, thought to be the Guelphic royal crown, to show a connection to
the British royal family, topped by a lion headed toward the hoist, right front
paw raised, looking toward the viewer. In reality, it was the royal crest for the
sovereign of the United Kingdom, as used in England. The heraldic ribbon
is divided in three parts inscribed FIDES FIDELITAS PROGRESSIO,
one word on each part. It is not known when the earliest flag was first used,
but the original coat of arms dates to 1879.
John M. Purcell, Canadian City Flags,
Raven 18,
2011
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