Islander wants ‘original’ flag reinstated
ANOTHER attempt is to be made to have the current Guernsey flag replaced with one that is more historically accurate, according to its backer.
John Bourgaize has made several moves over the years to do away with the now standard gold cross on the red cross of St George.
He said he has now found more evidence that the Guernsey flag should be a three lion crest on a white background.
Copies of a letter he has written will shortly be circulated to all deputies, urging them to look again at the issue.
Previously, Mr Bourgaize had championed a green and white vertical stripe version, with the crest on the white stripe in the middle: ‘I know now that this was only a sporting flag,’ he said.
He wrote to the Bailiff in 2010 expressing his concerns and outlined that he thought the flag ought to be changed.
He said that the island was using the three lions (then called leopards) six years before William I was crowned King of England and in his view has more right to them – something the 13-year-old John Bourgaize pointed out to one of his teachers after seeing the ‘English flag’ featuring the lions in a text book.
He has traced Guernsey’s use of the three leopards back to the days when a crest featuring two leopards was displayed on the outer wall of the Town Church in 1048, to represent then Duke of Normandy, William.
This was changed to three leopards in 1148 in honour of the latest Duke of Normandy, Harry.
Three lions started being used in England by King Henry II in 1152: ‘The three lions belong to Guernsey because they were in Guernsey first before they ever got to England,’ said Mr Bourgaize.
Guernsey was using three lions up to 1982, he said: ‘It was at the Commonwealth Games that the Guernsey flag got booted out because it was the same as the English flag.’
Mr Bourgaize has found more support for his cause from history, with a photo showing Germans at Guernsey Airport taking down a Guernsey flag in the 1940s, which has the three lions crest on a white circle surrounded by green leaves in the middle of the Union Flag.
He was astonished when the modern flag was unveiled: ‘I thought it was an April Fool’s joke.
‘I couldn’t believe my eyes.
‘There’s nothing of Guernsey in this flag.’
Mr Bourgaize said he was encouraged to push for the change again by two States members and this has led to his writing to all deputies to make his case.
