![[Flag of Metropolitan Police]](../images/g/gb~mepo4.gif)
image by Martin Grieve, 2 October 2006
Last modified: 2020-10-03 by rob raeside
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image by Martin Grieve, 2 October 2006
A blue flag with a blue-white bordure, and the badge in the centre.
![[Guidon of Mounted Branch of the Metropolitan Police Service]](../images/g/gb~mepmb.gif)
image by Herman Felani, 20 November 2006
The guidon of the Metropolitan Police Service Mounted Branch comprises a blue field and silver fringes. The Metropolitan Police Service badge is embroidered at the centre and the text "Mounted Branch" is embroidered along the base in silver. The image here is based on a photograph of the actual guidon from the
Newton flags website. A photograph of a police parade with the guidon is available at the Metropolitan Police's website. The main reference page where the photograph is shown is at Metropolitan Police: Mounted Branch Duties.
Herman Felani, 20 November 2006
![[Flag of Thames Division Metropolitan Police]](../images/g/gb~mepo2.gif)
image by Martin Grieve, 1 October 2006
Thames Division applied to the Admiralty for a Blue Ensign and on 21 March
1952 the 4th Sea Lord wrote that he would be very glad to issue a warrant to
Thames Division, if only in recognition of the assistance rendered to
Sub-Lieutenants from Greenwich who had missed the last train. Two warrants dates
are recorded, one on 21 April 1952, and a second on 5 September 1952, with
introduction of the ensign delayed until 1 July 1953. Possibly the original
warrant was granted for an ensign with the then existing police badge, before it
was realised that the death of King George VI earlier that year would require an
alteration to the royal initials which were part of the badge. The second
warrant would then have been for a badge containing the initials EiiR, effective
on the First of the Month following the Coronation Service.
The original badge on the ensign is a single print with the letters
back-to-front on the reverse side. In the centre of the current badge the
colours blue and white have, compared with the first ensign, been reversed, and
the crown is now in full colour. In 2001 Thames Division became known as the
Marine Support Unit.
Source: National Archives (PRO) MEPO 2/9196 and MEPO 13/41.
David Prothero, 1 October 2006
![[Flag of Thames Division Metropolitan Police]](../images/g/gb~mepo3.gif)
image by Martin Grieve, 1 October 2006
The current Thames Division Metropolitan Police flag is based on illustration in Graham Bartram's book "British Flags & Emblems".
Martin Grieve, 1 October 2006
![[Metropolitan Police]](../images/g/gb_mepo1.gif)
image by Martin Grieve, 1 September 2006
based on the illustration in Graham Bartram's book "British Flags & Emblems".
The Marine Police were formed in 1798 and the Metropolitan Police in 1829. The two forces amalgamated in 1839 and the Marine Police became Thames Division of the Metropolitan Police. A blue flag with a crown in the upper hoist corner and POLICE across the lower hoist and fly was introduced in 1840 as the flag of the Thames Division. In 1938 and again in 1941 it was suggested that since ensigns had been granted to other authorities that operated vessels on the Thames, such as Customs, War Department, General Post Office and Port of London Authority, Thames Division should apply for a Blue Ensign. However nothing was done until 1951 when it was noted that a Blue Ensign had been granted to the Thames Motor Cruising Club that had been in existence for only twenty-one years. That ensign had been granted to the club in recognition of its services during the 1939-45 war, particularly at Dunkirk in 1940.
David Prothero, 1 September 2006
