U.K. Fleet Admiral's Flag HMS Iron Duke.
This sewn Union Flag was used by British Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Jellicoe. The flag bears the makers mark "Kirk, Hall and Co., Kidacre Street, Leeds, 1918".
The Kirk & Hall Company were flag makers in Leeds at the turn of the century. This flag was acquired with the provenance that it flew on "Sir John Jellicoe's flagship, the Iron Duke during the Great World War." However, the date on the flag precludes that. Further, the HMS Iron Duke does not seen to have ever been used as a flag ship by an admiral of the grade of Admiral of the Fleet.
Instead a more likely scenario is that this flag was acquired and used by Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe after his elevation to that grade on 3 April 1919. As an Admiral of the Fleet he was entitled to the Union Flag to indicate his grade, however, Jellicoe never commanded a fleet of the Royal Navy in that grade, and instead served as Governor General of New Zealand, and presumably used this flag while in that grade.
The flag was later acquired by US Ambassador Julius W. Walker, Jr., a career diplomat; most of whose career was spent in Africa. However, between 1969 and 1972 he was posted to London in the United Kingdom and it is likely that this is when he acquired Admiral Jellicoe's flag. Since Jellicoe commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland, but as an Admiral not a Fleet Admiral, it is likely that Ambassador Walker simply confused the two events.
Provenance:Acquired in 2009 at Internet auction.
ZFC Important Flag
Sources:
CKidacre Street, Leodis - a photographic archive of Leeds, 21 May 2012, from: http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=9041&DISPLAY=FULL
John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Wikipedia, 21 May 2012, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jellicoe,_1st_Earl_Jellicoe
Iron Duke, Wikipedia, 21 May 2012, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Iron_Duke_%281912%29
Julius W. Walker, Jr., FOREIGN AFFAIRS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, 21 May 2012, from: http://gulib.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/fl/f999%7D6.htm
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
