Flag of Greater London

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Not to be confused with Flag of the City of London.

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Greater London Authority
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Greater London does not currently have an official flag to represent the region.[1] However, the current Greater London Authority and predecessor bodies have historically flown and used many flags and symbols.

History[]

London County Council[]

Main article: Coat of arms of London County Council

London County Council which was created in 1889, was granted a coat of arms in 1914 and flew a banner of these arms over County Hall from 1923 onwards.[2][3][4] The arms depicted waves representing the River Thames, the flag of England and a lion to signify London's status of the capital city of England and the United Kingdom and a mural crown.

Greater London Council[]

London County Council was replaced by the Greater London Council in 1965 which covered a larger area. The Greater London Council was subsequently granted a coat of arms and heraldic banner.[5] These arms contained elements taken from the arms of its predecessor bodies, waves taken from the arms of London County Council and a Saxon crown taken from the arms of Middlesex County Council.

Greater London Authority[]

The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986 and Greater London remained without a strategic local government body until the Greater London Authority was created in 2000. For the first few months of its existence, the Greater London Authority used a logo depicting a representation of the course of the River Thames against a green disk also containing the name of the authority.[6][7] This was subsequently replaced by a wordmark, created by design agency Appetite, consisting of the word LONDON with the letters LOND in blue and ON in red.[8][9][10] On 31 January 2020, after Brexit (which Londoners voted against[11]), a new flag was additionally flown, the design consisting of a white field charged with the word "LONDON" where the letters "O" in the word are representations of the globe showing different hemispheres and with the legend "EVERYONE WELCOME" in smaller letters below.[12] The design is based on an campaign graphic originally launched in 2016.[13]

In February 2020, London Assembly member and Deputy Mayor Tom Copley proposed a motion calling on the Mayor of London to ask the College of Arms to transfer the arms of the Greater London Council to the Greater London Authority.[14][15] The motion received unanimous support from assembly members however Mayor Sadiq Khan, while supporting the request in principle, asked the assembly to consider costs involved and to reconfirm the decision the following month.[16]

The Chair of the London Assembly wears the ceremonial badge of office that was previously worn by the Chairman of the Greater London Council.[17][18] The badge, which depicts the coat of arms of the Greater London Council and the letters GLC, is made of 18 ct gold with 29 diamonds, four clusters of 8 small pearls and a pendant pearl.[5]

Gallery[]

  • Coat of arms of the Greater London Council (1965-1986)

  • Flag of the Greater London Council (1965-1986)

  • Former logo of the Greater London Authority (2000-2001)

  • Current logo of the Greater London Authority (2001–present)

  • Flag flown outside the Greater London Authority (2001-)

  • The flag of the Greater London Authority being flown at City Hall in 2005

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Should Greater London have it's [sic] own county flag?". TalkLondon. Retrieved 26 July 2021. We shared it with the Culture and Creative Industries team here at City Hall and here's what they said... However, there are currently no plans to create a specific flag for London.
  2. ^ "London County Council, The council's coat-of-arms". The Times. 27 May 1914. p. 5.
  3. ^ Walker, Michael (30 November 2016). "Hayes Peoples History: London County Council Flag 1923".
  4. ^ Khpal, Mohammad (2 April 2020). "Mohammad Khpal: A new logo for London is long overdue".
  5. ^ a b "My Life – Page 38". 23 November 2016.
  6. ^ "Greater London Authority News Releases". 22 June 2000. Archived from the original on 22 June 2000.
  7. ^ "Peoples Question Time 24 October 2000 - Introduction". 10 December 2000. Archived from the original on 10 December 2000.
  8. ^ "Branding - a Freedom of Information request to Greater London Authority". WhatDoTheyKnow. 26 October 2010.
  9. ^ "Greater London Authority - News Release 250-0412". 17 February 2001. Archived from the original on 17 February 2001.
  10. ^ "Branding - a Freedom of Information request to Greater London Authority" (PDF). 26 October 2010.
  11. ^ "EU referendum results". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 30 June 2019.
  12. ^ https://www.stephenfriedman.com/news/209-david-shrigley-s-flag-replaces-the-eu-flag-at/
  13. ^ "David Shrigley and Sadiq Khan launch LondonIsOpen poster campaign for Tube". Dezeen. 1 August 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  14. ^ "GLA asks for the old GLC coat of arms as a birthday present". London City Hall. 6 February 2020.
  15. ^ "Greater London Authority could adopt GLC coat of arms".
  16. ^ https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/response_from_mayor_to_motion.pdf[bare URL]
  17. ^ Raffray, Nathalie (15 May 2020). "Navin Shah becomes first British Indian to be elected chair of the London Assembly". Kilburn Times.
  18. ^ "London Assembly elects Jennette Arnold as Chair". MayorWatch. 11 May 2012.

External links[]

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