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Flag of the British Resident (Perak, Malaysia)

1:2 image by Ivan Sache, 13 January 2000

Description
Flag of the British Resident c.1939, possibly mistaken
Flag of the British Resident

See also:

Description

The Corrections to Flaggenbuch 1939 [neu39] which appear in the 1992 facsimile edition [neu92], show the flag of the British Resident as a national flag forked.
Ivan Sache, 13 January 2000

If there was any uniformity among the flags of the British Residents of the Malay States, it should have been the forked national flag [as at the top of this page].
David Prothero, 15 January 2000

Flag of the British Resident c.1939, possibly mistaken

1:2 image by Ivan Sache, 13 January 2000

Source: Flaggenbuch 1939 [neu39].
Ivan Sache, 13 January 2000

The flag of the British Resident is problematic. The initial (December 1939) edition of Flaggenbuch 1939 [neu39] showed the flag of the British Resident as a forked white flag with national flag in canton. However, the Corrections to Flaggenbuch 1939 which appear in the 1992 facsimile edition [neu92], show the flag of the British Resident as a national flag forked. Was this the correction of an error or a change in the flag? Jaume Ollé shows a third one, national flag forked with Union Flag in canton.
Ivan Sache, 13 January 2000

Flag of the British Resident

image by Martin Grieve, 8 March 2010

Council Minutes, Perak. Saturday, 1st March, 1879

2. The question of a flag for the State was then taken into consideration in connection with His Excellency the Governor's letter No. 790, dated 31st January, 1879. [Letter of the Honorable the Colonial Secretary of the Straits Settlements, No. 790/79, containing the directions of His Excellency the Governor as to the flags of Native States, and as to the distinguishing flags to be used by Residents when afloat.]

After discussion, it was resolved that the flag of the State should be formed of three horizontal bands of equal size, of the colours white, yellow and black; white being the uppermost and black the lowest; these three colours being those of the great officers of State: the Yang Di Per Tuan, the Raja Muda and the Bandahara, respectively.
The presence of the Yang Di Per Tuan on board any Government vessel will be denoted by a white flag at the main, that of the Raja Muda by a yellow flag at the main, and that of the Raja Bandahara by a black (or dark blue) flag at the main.
The presence of Her Britannic Majesty's Resident on board any Government vessel will be denoted by a burgee at the main in imitation of the flag of the State, with a small "Union" in the upper canton - that of the Assistant Resident by a similar flag flown at the fore.

Image by Martin Grieve is based upon an illustration in the 1905 Flaggenbuch. The Union canton has been copied as illustrated. Union cantons of other British ensigns in the book are of the more usual appearance.
David Prothero, 8 March 2010

If the imitation of the flag of the State is a split flag, does that mean the original is too? Or are split flags an indication of a personal flag, and if so, would the three mentioned flags have been split flags as well?
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 12 January 2011

As far as the Federation of Malaya is concerned, and if the Flaggenbuch can be sited as reasonably definitive evidence (and I believe it can), then only the flags of the British Residents to those various states under that country's 'protection' were swallow-tailed.
Christopher Southworth, 13 January 2011