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Metropolitan Police (United Kingdom)

image by Martin Grieve, 2 October 2006

Description of the flag
Guidon of the Mounted Branch of the Metropolitan Police Service
Thames Division Metropolitan Police Flag
Variant based on Bartram (2004)

See also:

Description of the flag

A blue flag with a blue-white bordure, and the badge in the centre.

Guidon of the Mounted Branch of the Metropolitan Police Service

image by Herman Felani, 20 November 2006

The guidon of the Metropolitan Police Service Mounted Branch comprises a blue field and silver fringes. The Metropolitan Police Service badge is embroidered at the centre and the text "Mounted Branch" is embroidered along the base in silver. The image here is based on a photograph of the actual guidon from the NewtonNewton flags website. A photograph of a police parade with the guidon is available at the Metropolitan Police's website. The main reference page where the photograph is shown is at http://www.met.police.uk/mountedbranch/duties.htm.
Herman Felani, 20 November 2006

Thames Division Metropolitan Police Flag

image by Martin Grieve, 1 October 2006

Thames Division Metropolitan Police 1953 - ????
Image based on the photograph at http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulholmes/246880831/in/set-72157594290065176/

Thames Division applied to the Admiralty for a Blue Ensign and on 21 March 1952 the 4th Sea Lord wrote that he would be very glad to issue a warrant to Thames Division, if only in recognition of the assistance rendered to Sub-Lieutenants from Greenwich who had missed the last train. Two warrants dates are recorded, one on 21 April 1952, and a second on 5 September 1952, with introduction of the ensign delayed until 1 July 1953. Possibly the original warrant was granted for an ensign with the then existing police badge, before it was realised that the death of King George VI earlier that year would require an alteration to the royal initials which were part of the badge. The second warrant would then have been for a badge containing the initials EiiR, effective on the First of the Month following the Coronation Service.

The original badge on the ensign is a single print with the letters back-to-front on the reverse side. In the centre of the current badge the colours blue and white have, compared with the first ensign, been reversed, and the crown is now in full colour. In 2001 Thames Division became known as the Marine Support Unit.
National Archives (PRO) MEPO 2/9196 and MEPO 13/41.
David Prothero, 1 October 2006

image by Martin Grieve, 1 October 2006

Thames Division Metropolitan Police ???? - current.
based on illustration in Graham Bartram's book British Flags & Emblems.