The Flag Badge (1955)

The 1876 flag badge shown in Plate VII was still in use in the Colony flag after the Second World War. In 1954 there came to light by chance a copy of the old Victorian Seal appearing in Plate II. A comparison of this picture with the later versions then appearing in the Flag Badge and the George VI Seal led to the conclusion that the original picture was much superior in design and execution, and on the 28th August 1954 the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, G.C.M.G., proposed to the Secretary of State that a new flag badge should be approved incorporating the original design (and that a similar change should be made in the new Elizabethan seal). The Secretary of State agreed and the Crown Agents provided a new painting of the old design. Oddly enough the painter received a fee of three guineas, only three shillings more than were reputed to be paid to the Wapping oilman in 1869. Various improvements were made by the Hong Kong Government Printer ; Executive Council agreed to the new design; and the Admiralty approved it as the official Flag Badge of the Colony in December 1955. The badge contains a curious error : the small peak below the Blue Ensign derives from a flaw in the original design.

The Badge is shown in Plate XI.