![[High Commissioner for Palestine Ensign 1936-1948, official badge design (British Mandate of Palestine)]](../images/m/mpe~hc36.gif)
![[High Commissioner for Palestine Ensign 1936-1948, badge as actually used in 1948 (British Mandate of Palestine)]](../images/m/mpe~hc48.gif)
1:2 
| both images by Željko Heimer and António
Martins
Last modified: 2024-09-07 by martin karner
Keywords: high commissioner | british mandate of palestine | canton: union flag | disc (white): badge | garland | crown: royal | palestine high commissioner |
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1:2 | both images by Željko Heimer and António
Martins
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This flag should have been flown only when the High
Commissioner was afloat. The Union
Flag would have been the usual flag on land.
The shape of the crown was unusual for a
British flag.
Nozomi Kariyasu's scan
of the Palestine High Commissioner's badge is the official design
which would have been surrounded by the standard green laurel
leaf garland on a Union Flag. Approved by
High Commissioner 17th July 1935, published as part of 1936
amendment (No. 5) to Drawings of
the Flags of All Nations 1930, discontinued 15th May
1948. The badge that was actually in use in 1948 was more like this scan. This is a
reconstruction based on the flag flown on the High Commissioner's
launch as shown in a black and white news-reel. The garland
should be thicker than in the drawing, I presume that it would
have been green, and the crown yellow.
David Prothero, 16 February and 17 October 1999, 18
August 2000 and 15 March 2001
British Union Flag 1:2 defaced in the middle with white disk
containing the badge and encircled with green garland. Badge
consists of a yellow crown (untypical for British crowns) below
which is inscribed in serif font in three rows 'PALESTINE HIGH
COMMISSIONER', the lower row being curved. The actual badge as
shown on David Prothero's scan and the one in Flaggenbuch 1939 are more
then very similar — I cannot see any difference.
Željko Heimer, 17 February 2002
In 1932 the Palestine High Commissioner applied to the
Colonial Office for a distinguishing flag. He made some journeys
by launch, but had no defaced Union Flag
of the type normally used to identify a vessel in which a
commissioner was travelling. He did not consider that the badge
used on the ensigns was suitable, and
suggested a badge similar to those of the High Commissioners of
the Western Pacific and South Africa. These badges had an
imperial crown and appropriate initials, on a white disc
surrounded by a garland of green leaves.
The Colonial Office agreed that the badge on the ensigns was, "repellent",
and were considering the adoption of a badge that had a crown in
the centre with 'PALESTINE' above and 'H.C.' below, when it was
decided that the Foreign Office would probably not agree to a
badge which featured a crown. The status of the administration of
a mandated territory was not entirely clear, and some were of the
opinion that in Palestine the Colonial Office were agents of the
League of Nations, and that the use of a royal crown was not
appropriate. It was proposed instead that a simplified version of the design that had
been used for the Public Seal, should be used as a flag
badge. (...) The badge based on the Seal was [strongly opposed by
the Jewish Agency] and abandoned and on 17th July 1935 the High
Commissioner selected a badge, similar to that of the Western Pacific High Commissioner, that
had been considered in 1932. The design of the crown is unusual,
but is perhaps a simplified version of the standard Imperial
Crown with the normally domed arches flattened to make more space
within the white circle for the lettering.
The difficulty of fitting the crown and lettering into the
available space may explain the version of the badge that
appeared on the flag of the High Commissioner when his departure
from Palestine was filmed in 1948.
David Prothero, 4 March 2002
![[Badge used in 1948]](../images/m/mpe)hc48.gif)
image by Željko Heimer
The shape of the crown was unusual for a British flag. (...) I
would be interested if anyone can identify the style of the crown
which is not a Tudor/Imperial crown and unlike any other that I
have seen. It is similar to that of Henry VII (1485) as drawn in Neubecker 1977 page 171.
David Prothero, 16 February and 17 October 1999 and 18 August 2000
Initially I thought that the crown on the badge might intend
to represent that of some (English) Crusader king. I have carried
minor research and I believe the crown has no heraldic or
historical support. The appearance of the crown, the way the
pearls on the arches are represented, the lack of colour (all
yellow) etc. certainly makes it look like a crown on a medieval
seal. However, according to Fox-Davies
1996 who quotes in full a text on English crowns by Cyril
Davenport F.S.A., an expert on the subject, the first English
king to use a crown with crosses-pattée was Henry VI, and the
first to combine these with fleurs-de-lys was Henry VII, both
long past the times of Crusader dominion over Palestine.
Santiago Dotor, 2 February 2000
![[Last flag of High Commissioner]](../images/m/mpe~hc48_l.jpg)
image located by William Garrison
The Imperial War Museum in London harbours the last flag of the British High Commissioner in Palestine.
On its website it states: "Union Flag with a central circular badge (single-sided), that features a
gold Imperial Crown above the text, 'PALESTINE' below, and 'HIGH COMMISSIONER' beneath, with a wreath of
green laurels, on a white field. – Last flag flown by last British High Commissioner, Palestine.
Flown from the Royal Navy light cruiser HMS Euryalus after embarking High Commissioner for Palestine
General Sir Alan Cunningham, at Haifa, following his departure from Jerusalem and the termination of the
British Mandate on 14 May 1948." (source)
A "red berries on the green laurels/leaves" flag for the British Mandate's High Commissioner, but
with more white space (disk) around the central badge, as shown at the Imperial War Museum. A museum note
states that this flag is a "Union Flag with a central circular badge single-sided", it appears
that the badge was merely sewn onto one side of this flag (as the red and white crosses can been seen
through the attached badge). Due to the museum's note, apparently no badge was attached on the backside
of this flag.
William Garrison, 28 March 2024
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