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![[Colonial Flag of the Seychelles]](../images/s/sc~1961.gif)
image by Martin Grieve, 4 December 2009
See also:
![[Colonial Badge of the Seychelles]](../images/s/sc)1961.gif)
image by Martin Grieve, 3 December 2009
Barraclough and Crampton 1981 also mentions concerning the British Indian Ocean Territory that it was formed in 1965 and that the Blue Ensign with the Seychelles badge was used in this territory.
Santiago Dotor, 13 April, 2000
From the Toronto Globe and Mail (transcribed from a newspaper clipping; some parts missing):
"Torontonian Designs Flag for Seychelles"
A new flag badge for the Seychelles Islands has been designed by Mrs. Alec
McEwen of Toronto. A few days ago she received word from London that the design
had been approved by the Queen and that the Admiralty has agreed to its use in
the fly of the blue ensign.
A former commercial artist entered a poster contest and the governor was
delighted with her sketch. So one of the first of new Seychelles Islands flags
will come to another British colony halfway around the world, to its designer.
Colorful both in design and content, it closely resembles the ...
...its pale yellow oval border inset with green fish on a blue background. It
still carries the giant land tortoise, a gentle, lumbering creature centuries
older than people in the islands; and a brown and green coco-de-mer tree from
which the largest fruit in the world, big double coconuts, are harvested. The
fruit, which Mrs. McEwen describes as a translucent jelly, is served at
Government House smothered in crème de menthe. In the background is a pale mauve
island top and a red fishing boat with snowy sails. The insignia is indicative
of main industries on the agricultural islands - coconuts and copra, cinnamon
and fish and vanilla.
submitted by Ann Janicki, daughter of Mrs. McEwen, 28 April 2005
![[Colonial Flag of the Seychelles]](../images/s/sc~1961gg.gif)
image by Martin Grieve, 4 December 2009
![[Colonial Flag of the Seychelles]](../images/s/sc_1970-76.gif)
image located by Matthias Hansson, 5 December 2009
based on http://www.helicopterseychelles.com/history_of_seychelles_flags.html
In response to a comment that the badge changed in 1970, I think that there
was no change, neither official nor unofficial. Barraclough's 1971 edition of
"Flags of the World" shows the 1961 badge, and Evans' "Observer's Book of Flags"
1975 also has the 1961 badge. The idea that there might have been a change in
1970 is probably the result of thinking that the badge used on the Presidential
Flag in 1976 had previously been used on the Blue Ensign, when it was actually a
variation of it.
In the 1978 edition of "Flags of the World"
Barraclough/Crampton, after referring to the flag adopted on independence wrote,
"A flag for the President was also adopted, consisting of the National Flag with
the armorial badge, not the Arms, within a white fimbriation in the centre. The
badge is like the former ensign-badge, and shows the tortoise and palm-tree
motif within a wreath of palm leaves. The former ensign-badge, dating from April
1961 and based on an earlier version said to have been designed by General
Charles Gordon in the late 19th century, was replaced by a new Coat of Arms."
David Prothero, 4 December 2009
![[Colonial Flag of the Seychelles]](../images/s/sc-1903.gif)
image by Martin Grieve, 11 December 2009
This flag was used from 1903 to 1961. Before 1903, Seychelles was administered as a dependency of Mauritius.
David Prothero, 23 September 2000
![[Colonial Badge of the Seychelles]](../images/s/sc)1903.gif)
image by Martin Grieve, 11 December 2009
Badge designed by General Charles Gorge Gordon we are told. The palm trees are
unique - being found only on the Seychelles. Campbell and Evans get it all wrong
on the book of flags 1953 edition citing that the creature is a turtle when it
is actually a giant Tortoise.
Illustration based on BR20 1958 edn.
Martin Grieve, 6 December 2009
![[Colonial Flag of the Seychelles]](../images/s/sc~1903gg.gif)
image by Martin Grieve, 11 December 2009
The earlier colonial history of the Seychelles involved a fierce rivalry
between France and Britain, and has some interesting flag aspects, as reported
by Baudouin Eschapasse in the French magazine "Historia".
On 1 November 1756, Captain Nicolas Morphey, commanding the frigates "Cerf" and
"Saint-Benoît" took possession of the archipelago in the name of King of France
Louis XV. The archipelago was named Séchelles (later changed to Seychelles),
after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, "Intendant des Finances", who funded the
expedition. A stone engraved with the Royal shield was placed on the island
named Mahé, as a tribute to Governor of Mauritius Mahé de La Bourdonnais (d.
1753). Colonies founded in 1770 and 1772 were not successful; in 1773, Lapérouse
repatriated most of the colons to France, whereas the chief of the first colony
exiled to India. Only 13 Africans, including a woman, stayed in the Seychelles.
Colonization resumed progressively with the input of new colons. On 9 June 1790,
the colonists, made aware of the French Revolution, elected a permanent assembly
with some aspiration to independence from Ile Bourbon (Mauritius) and therefore
from France. On 30 July 1791, a corvette brought the Tricolor flag; a census
yielded 65 citizens and 487 slaves.
Jean-Baptiste Quéau de Quinssy was appointed Governor in 1793 and had to cope
with more and more frequent British attacks. On 16 May 1794, five British war
vessels moored in Port-Royal and 1,200 soldiers landed. Quinssy capitulated and
hoisted the Union Jack. As soon as the British had left, Quinssy hoisted down
the Union Jack and replaced it with the French Tricolore. For the next 20 years,
the governor behaved as the foxiest diplomat. Every time a war vessel moored in
the bay, he sent a pirogue hoisting the same ensign as the vessel. He signed his
official mail "Quincey" as a British governor and "Quinssy" as a French
governor, and welcomed, as the French governor, in 1795 the famous French
corsair Robert Surcouf. The governor's diplomacy avoided any violent action
against the colony and boosted its development: population increased within 20
years from less than 500 to more than 3,500, including more than 3,000 slaves.
In 1814, the United Kingdom officially proclaimed its sovereignty on the
Seychelles, and Quinssy became officially Governor Quincey, staying there until
his death in 1827. His motto is said to have been : "Ce n'est pas la girouette
qui tourne mais le vent !" (It's not the weather-vane which turns but the
wind!).
The story is reported with more details by Baudouin Eschapasse in the French
magazine "Historia"
http://www.historia.presse.fr/data/mag/722/72202601.html.
Ivan Sache, 1 February 2007