![[Ensign of Liverpool Yacht Club]](../images/g/gb~ylivr.gif)
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by Clay Moss, 27 February 2015See also:
Liverpool Yacht Club, New Ferry, Wirral. Originally Liverpool Bay Yacht Club.
9 March 1908. Club requested title ‘royal’. The club Rule Book, which was sent
with the application, showed that the club’s ensign was red with a Liver Bird on
the fly. The same bird was on a red over blue burgee. The ensign was probably
unauthorised as the Admiralty wrote to the Home Office, “Net registered tonnage
does not meet required standard. This does not imply objection to use of Royal
Title.” However the Home Office refused the application, noting, “King approved
refusal.” [National Archives HO 144/875/163339]
I don’t know if the
current Liverpool Yacht Club, which has a different burgee, is the same club.
A warrant dated 23 November 1853 was issued to a Liverpool Yacht Club, for a
plain Blue Ensign. Probably a different club which became defunct.
David Prothero,
14 February 2015
LIVERPOOL YACHT CLUB
A few short months have elapsed since the formation
of the Liverpool Yacht Club, and yet through the active and energetic management
of its promoters, despite sundry prognostications of the impossibility of
establishing a third yacht club on the Mersey, we find that it has been
accomplished. It is founded under Admiralty Warrant date 23rd November 1853, of
which we subjoin a copy.
Copy ... Liverpool Yacht Club ... blue ensign of
Her Majesty's Fleet ... with the distinctive marks of the club in the Burgee.
The article also includes a speech by J.A. Clarke from a meeting held in
early November:
... We are met, pursuant to a circular, dated the 29th of
October, for the purpose of confirming the foundation of a new yacht club,
organised on Friday, the 28th of October, and called "Liverpool Yacht Club", ...
... "There are at present seventeen royal yacht clubs, two yacht clubs not
enjoying royal patronage, and two model yacht clubs. I can state, upon excellent
authority, that our most gracious Queen, will not extend her royal patronage to
any other than the seventeen already established yacht clubs already
established, so that there cannot be another royal yacht club. I have, however,
every reason to felicitate the members of the Liverpool Yacht Club upon the
grant by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, of the blue ensign of her
Majesty's fleet, to be worn by the vessels belonging to the club, under special
several Admiralty warrants, granting all the rights and immunities appertaining
thereto, and with which is proposed to be worn a distinctive blue burgee, having
emblazoned thereon the arms of Liverpool. ...
Hunt's Yachting Magazine,
February 1854
https://archive.org/stream/huntsyachtingma02unkngoog#page/n13/mode/2up
The two yacht clubs that a third was added to were the Royal Mersey and the
Birkenhead Model Yacht Club. These would then be among the 17 Royals and 2
Models as the speaker lists them, whereas the Liverpool would be one of the two
non-Royals. Whether the speaker was right that no more than 17 yacht clubs would
have Royal Patronage during the life time of the Queen, and whether this limited
the number of "Royal" clubs to 17, I don't know. If so, it would add additional
information to what we know about other similar requests. Ultimately, this would
play a roll in the number of crowned burgees.
Then again, the refusal of
royal patronage might also have been influenced by the fact that when J.A. Clark
requested Royal Patronage for the club, the secretary of the Royal Mersey
contended this in his own letter to the Admiralty.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5110459
The
Internet seem to yield mentions of the club for only a few years afterwards,
though. Maybe three clubs was indeed too many for the Mersey at that time.
The Royal Mersey Yacht Club, from 1844, is on
occasion referred to as the "Royal Liverpool Yacht Club", which introduces one
Liverpool yacht club more than have actually existed. For example, check
references to the 1908 Olympics for such occurrences - at least, that's how I
interpret them. In 21-st century media the same name pops up from time to time -
I think again for the Royal Mersey. They are also the club to fly the liverbird.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 14 February 2015
The April issue has additional details, in the form of the Laws and
Regulations of the club (202-207):
[2. — That the officers of the club
consist of Commodore, Vice-Commodore, Rear-Commodore, Treasurer, Secretary,
Cup-bearer, and two Auditors ...
I only mention this one because it has
provided me with the officer's position of "Auditor", which is the 100th(!)
entry in my list of Yacht
Club Officers' positions. (Not all, apparently, are
flag officers, though, nor do all these officers have flags.)]
23. — That
the Club Ensign be the Blue Ensign of her Majesty's fleet, agreeable to a
warrant, dated the 23rd of November, 1853, granted to the club by the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, and that the burgee be Blue, with the
distinguishing mark of the club, the hoist of each to be two-thirds of the fly.
24, — The commodore's flag to be the club burgee with swallow tail:
vice-commodore's to be the club burgee with swallow tail and one red ball ;
rear-commodore's the club burgee with two red balls.
25. — That the
yachts of the Liverpool yacht club shall always appear with the club ensign and
burgee, unless when their distinguishing flags are used in sailing matches ; and
that yachts be required to hoist their club flags within the limits of the port
of Liverpool and elsewhere, when the commodore's flag is there hoisted.
26. — That Acker's code of Signals shall be the only signals recognized by the
club ; and that all yachts belonging to the club shall make their numbers
according to Hunt's Universal Yacht List.
- Are we to read 23 to mean
that the Blue Ensign of her Majesty's fleet be 2:3?
- According to 24, the
rear-commodore did not have a swallow-tailed burgee, but a ordinary one.
-
Clearly a different burgee from that of the Liverpool Yacht Club existing in
1905.
- "Acker's", I assume refers to Ackers' "Universal Yacht Signals" (1st
ed. 1847), which sort of was to Yacht Clubs what the Commercial code was to the
Merchant Navy.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 17 February 2015
![[Burgee of Liverpool Yacht Club]](../images/g/gb~ylivy.gif)
image located by Peter Edwards, 26 September 2017
The LYC was established 1988 and the TSC [Tranmere Sailing Club] in 1891.
"The Name of the Club shall be "Liverpool Yacht Club". . . "
"Liverpool Yacht Club (LYC) has
formed an Alliance [in 2008] with
Tranmere Sailing Club
(TSC) . . ."
Images:
Club's website. Quotes: Club's Constitution and Rules 2008
Peter Edwards,
25 September 2017
![[Burgee of Liverpool Yacht Club]](../images/g/gb~yliv.gif)
image
by Clay Moss, 27 February 2015
based on image from Album des Pavillions Nationaux, 1923, located by David Prothero, 14 February 2015
