ICV 27 - Speaker 16: Ralph Kelly

Empire Flag at Imperial University, The Huxley Building, London

Kelly spoke about the Empire flag of the UK, so appropriate for a talk at Imperial University.  Ralph Kelly's paper was simply entitled A Flag for Empire.

The Imperial flag for the British Empire has been carted to dust bin of history.  But for a little while, persons across the British Empire were encouraged to celebrate 'Empire Day.'  The British were heads and shoulders leading the world with technologies and other important discoveries at the time.  Likewise the connectivity between the colonies were rather strong, at the beginning of the 1900s.

Kelly noted that Empire Day started in Canada, but become a global holiday across the Empire.  Eventually a flag was created to honor this day which featured the coat of arms of Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the Star of India in the center of the cross on white canton UK flag. 


Here is a photo of the Empire Flag being waved at the end of WWII.