A FLAG FOR STAFFORDSHIRE

The Flag Institute established its registry of British flags at the turn of the 21st century http://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/flag-registry/?flagtype=County+Flag . The designs included are both traditional and novel. Counties without a rich symbolic history have held competitions to elicit bright novel flags whilst the flags of Kent, Essex and Middlesex for example, were included on the registry from its inception as traditional designs, having been used to represent the county for centuries. Further research demonstrated that other counties such as Sussex and Caernarfonshire were also possessed of anciently associated designs that were registrable as traditional and The Flag Institute has recognised that Staffordshire too has a potential traditional flag, in the form of its long associated, obvious and distinct emblem, the Stafford Knot.

The earliest recording of the knot is on the shaft of a stone cross located in Stoke-on-Trent churchyard.

The cross itself is traceable to between 750 and 850 AD although the knot device could have been added at a later date. There are a number of stories relating to its origin.

One stems from its motto: “The Knot Unites”. The knot was said to symbolically bind three different local areas which joined to form what is now known as Staffordshire when Ethelfleda, eldest daughter of Alfred the Great,

who defended a stronghold at Stafford, symbolically took off her girdle and said to the local lords: “With this girdle, I bind us all as one”, and the three areas became Staffordshire. The anniversary of this event was celebrated in 1913, a thousand years after it was said to have happened.

Another theory holds that the Knot forms the shape of a double ‘S’ representing ’’Stafford-Shire’’. There is also a popular notion that the Knot originated when a Stafford County Sherriff invented it to hang three criminals at the same time. He only had one piece of rope but could not just hang one of the criminals as it would be unfair to the other two to give precedence to only one of the condemned! He therefore tied his single rope into three loops and dispatched of all three criminals at the same time.

However, the earliest authentic appearance of the Stafford Knot is on the seal of Joan Stafford, Lady of Wake, who died childless in 1443. A descendant of Hereward the Wake, she may have inherited the device, described as the “Wake Knot”, from past generations. This artefact, now in the British Museum, passed upon her demise to her nephew, Humphrey, Earl of Stafford. He adopted the knot, henceforward to be known as the Stafford Knot, as his badge, probably just preceding his creation as Duke of Buckingham in 1444 and it appears coloured gold, in abundance, on the

standard of the Staffords.

The townsmen of Stafford were liegemen of the de Stafford family so also made use of the Stafford Knot badge. As the days of feudalism passed and individual and civic liberties grew, it was gradually adopted by the Citizens, Freemen and Burgesses of the county. Accordingly by 1611 when John Speed published his Atlas of Great Britain, he included a map of the town of Stafford

which featured the de Stafford family arms, gold with a red chevron,

combined with the family badge

a gold Stafford Knot, as the apparent arms of the town.

The knot has since become the ubiquitous symbol for Staffordshire and its county town, appearing, in many local coats of arms, and the badges and logos of many county organisations, as well as in the badge of the Staffordshire Regiment.

It appeared on the shirts of local nineteenth century football teams, being seen here

proudly emblazoned in a large and clear depiction across the chests of the 1876 Rushall Rovers team, from a mining village near Walsall and again on the shirts of

West Bromwich Albion from 1881-1882

The Stafford Knot is unequivocally the obvious device to appear on a flag for the county, and there also appears to be an obvious colour scheme. The knot is gold on the Stafford family standard and it is depicted on Speed’s map as a gold knot against

the red chevron of the de Stafford arms. Gold or yellow is the colour most often used to depict the knot - it is gold for example in the above badge of the county regiment. C.W.Scott-Giles in his 1933 work “Civic Heraldry of England and Wales ” records that the Staffordshire County Council, formed in 1889, was formerly awarded arms in 1931 which are described as “Gold, a red chevron, charged with a gold Stafford Knot.....”

The council, with the addition of a blue chief, had seemingly “annexed” the arms originally ascribed to the county town in the seventeenth century, by Speed but notably the theme of a gold Stafford Knot on a red background was maintained across three centuries. The town of Stafford itself by the twentieth century had received different arms which nonetheless still featured two gold Stafford Knots against a red background

North Staffordshire Railways was formed in 1845 and used a logo of a gold Stafford Knot against a red background

and was affectionately known as “The Knotty”. This colour scheme of a gold knot on a red background has subsequently appeared on several of the town arms in the county;

Stoke-On-Trent ; Coseley

Tipton . A gold knot on red background was further used by the Staffordshire Yeomanry

This arrangement appears now to be the recognised colour scheme for depiction of the Staffordshire Knot, being taken up by modern organisations such as

Keele University and the Staffordshire Federation of Women's Institutes

It also appears on the labels and logos of the Staffordshire brewery Marston’s

As well as being the logo of the Stafford Morris Men

There is therefore compelling evidence to recognise a gold Stafford Knot on a red background as the traditional emblem of the county and the natural emblem for deployment as the Staffordshire county flag.

If the design can demonstrably show significant in-county support from local bodies, civic, historic, cultural, it will be registered by the Flag Institute, as a traditional design and the county flag of Staffordshire.

Further examples of the Stafford Knot used within and to represent, the county.

Below, top two, a county constabulary uniform button and badge and below these, the county’s fire service and the badge of the county cricket team.

Following, the badge of the Staffordshire rugby team in various versions.

The logo of the local community fund grant

. A clever stylisation of the traditional knot, where it encompasses birth certificates and such like, also exists as the logo of the Burntwood Family History Group from the county

Local son and popular entertainer Robbie Williams, sports a Stafford Knot tattoo on his hand

and uses a stylised version of the device as the trademark for his fashion range

Staffordshire County Council uses a knot as a logo and it is the insignia of the organisers of the Staffordshire county show.

The Stafford Knot as used by the county scouts.

The Stafford Knot also appears as a decorative feature on The Meir Tunnel in Stoke

WHAT ABOUT THE COUNCIL’S BANNER?

The “flag” that is flown by Staffordshire County

Council is the council’s coat of arms rendered on a piece of cloth. Legally, these arms, either as a shield on a static wall or when flown from a flag pole, belong solely to the council as the armiger or arms-holder and represent only that body. Despite being erroneously marketed by flag sellers as the “county” flag this banner of the council’s arms does not represent the county as an entity and never has. County residents actually have no right to fly this banner. Hence the county does not appear on the flag Institute’s registry http://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/flag-registry/?flagtype=County+Flag and the need for a flag for the county and its people. Additionally the council’s remit does not include swathes of Staffordshire territory; by definition its insignia cannot represent the whole county, whereas the proposed flag is intended to represent the county to its fullest extent.

As noted the county has one very clear and distinct emblem with which it has been associated for many centuries, namely the Stafford Knot, yet this obvious county emblem is greatly reduced on the council’s arms so that it looks like an afterthought and from any height or distance effectively disappears from view. By contrast the design includes a large lion passant which has absolutely nothing to say about the county, such lions appear on the arms of many county councils, for example

Norfolk, Herefordshire Dorset.

seemingly as emblems of the authority derived from the crown - such lions being found on the royal banner of England. The lion on the Staffordshire council arms is therefore neither distinctive nor representative. Unlike the plain gold knot on red field, the council’s banner fails to announce the county to the world but rather merges with the broad range of similar civic and corporate arms. Stylistically, the several elements on the council’s banner also merge and become indistinct from any distance, whilst the proposed flag is simple and bold; the large plain gold knot is eye-catching, impactful and locally meaningful. The Stafford Knot is also much older than the Council Arms; it is an ancient local tradition and a genuine, general county emblem, perfectly suited for deployment on the county flag.