A Royal Indian Navy Jack with Star of India Badge, 1934 to 1947.
This Royal Indian Navy Jack was formerly part of the collection of Wall Street financier, business man and promoter of Anglo-American goodwill Calvin Bullock. His 1 Wall street offices in New York City contained the world leading collections of memorabilia pertaining to Napoleon & Lord Nelson. In the 1930s he sought to collect Confederate Flags and during World War II he acquired a representative collection of US, British, French and other allied ensigns from his many international, military and naval acquaintances. After his death in 1944 his son, Hugh Bullock kept the flags on display as a memorial to his late father.
Prior to the reorganization of the Royal Navy in 1864, the plain blue ensign had been the ensign of one of the three main squadrons of the Royal Navy, the "Blue Squadron." This changed in 1864, when an order in council provided that the Red Ensign was allocated to merchantmen, the Blue Ensign was to be flag of ships in public service or commanded by an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, and the White Ensign was allocated to the Navy.
The blue ensign for India was created in the early 1860s and had a variety of incarnations and uses before independence:
Ensign of Bombay Marine from 1863 to 1879,
Ensign of Indian Marine 1879 to 1891,
Ensign of Royal Indian Marine 1891 to 1928,
Jack of Royal Indian Marine 1928 to 1934,
Jack of Royal Indian Navy 1934 to 1947.
This jack was presented to Calvin Bullock in October of 1943, by Sir Girja Bajpai, K.B.E., C.I.E. who was Agent General of India in the United States and an ardent supporter of India in the allied war effort. Shankar Bajpai, (1891-1954), was an Indian politician, diplomat and Governor of Bombay (30 May 1952 - 5 Dec 1954). During World War II he served as India's Agent-General in the United States. He was a member of the Viceroy of India's Executive Council, serving as Chairman of the Department of Education, Health and Lands and after Indian Independence served as the Secretary General of the Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations for the Government of India. He was also a confidant and advisor to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
This jack, according to the Bullock notes, was displayed in Bullock's "Lecture Room...clockwise from S.W. door...East Wall: (south) 8th flag from the door" and was originally misidentified as an Indian Merchant Marine ensign; however no ensign was ever authorized for that service. Instead it is, as marked, from the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) and as such is a rare flag considering the small size of the Indian Navy before and during World War II.
In February 1939, the Chatfield Committee made recommendations for the RIN taking over increased responsibility for the naval defense of India. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the RIN began to establish reserves - the Royal Indian Naval Reserve, which was recruited from serving officers in the Mercantile Marine; and the Royal Indian Naval Volunteer Reserve, recruited from the general public and given intensive training, mainly in Bombay.
At the start of the World War II the RIN was very small with only eight warships with which to carry out their primary duty: to patrol the Indian Ocean. By the end of the war, its strength would rise to 117 combat vessels and 30,000 personnel who participated in every theatre of the war, and the various vessels of the RIN worked well with the British and Australian ships in many cooperative operations.
Notably, during the war, the Royal Indian Navy sloops Sutlej and Jumna played a key role in Operation Husky which was the Allied invasion of Sicily. Owing to the presence of many flags from this time and the theatre of war, as well as Calvin Bullock's predilection for collecting flags from significant vessels, it is highly probable that this jack was from one of these two RIN warships although there is no documentation evidencing such a claim.
The text on the hoist reads "Jack RIN 4 BD": 'RIN' standing for Royal Indian Navy. '4 BD refers to the width: 4 breadths or widths of cloth. This flag was presented to Calvin Bullock in October of 1943 by n high-ranking official managing the commercial affairs of India. The document states this flag hung in "The Lecture Room"..."clockwise from S.W. door"..."East Wall: (south)" 8th flag from the door. This flag is identified as a "Blue Ensign" (government vessel unarmed) of the "INDIAN MERCHANT MARINE With motto of the Order of the Star of India, chosen in time of Queen Victoria, when order was founded."
ZFC Significant Flag
Provenance:
• Royal Indian Navy, 1939-1943.
• Acquired by Sir Girja Bajpai, K.B.E., C.I.E., Agent General of India to the United States, 1943.
• Presented to Calvin Bullock, New York, New York, August 1943.
• Calvin Bullock Collection, until passing, June 1944.
• By bequest to Hugh Bullock, until passing. 1966.
• By descent in Bullock family to daughter of Hugh Bullock, until 1997
• Purchased for the Zaricor Flag Collection by private treaty from the estate of Calvin Bullock, New York City, 1997.
Sources:
The Royal Indian Navy (1612-1947) Association, Archive Catalogue, National Maritime Museum, 18 November 2011, from: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/archive/catalogue/record.cfm?ID=RIN
Blue Ensign, Wikipedia, 18 November 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_ensign
United Kingdom: history of the British Ensigns, Flags of the World, 18 November 2011, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-enshs.html
British Rule in India, Flags of the World, 18 November 2011, from: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/in-colon.html
Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai, Wikipedia, 18 November 2011, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girija_Shankar_Bajpai
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
