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City of London (United Kingdom)

by Graham Bartram, courtesy of World Flag Database

Description
Coat of arms
Lord Mayor of the City of London
Greater London Authority
Kingston-upon-Thames
Borough of Hackney

See also:

Description of the flag

This is the flag of the city of London as it appears in Inglefield (1979).
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 26 April 2000

This is the banner of arms of the Corporation of the City of London. Note however that the City of London does not include all of what is commonly known as London, but the ancient city only, from Fleet St eastward ("the Square Mile"), which is now the financial centre of London. Its authority does not extend to the adjacent City of Westminster, nor to the surrounding boroughs, which together constitute Greater London.

Consequently there is a 'Lord Mayor of London' who heads the Corporation, but there will soon be a separate 'Mayor of London' in charge of the whole of Greater London.

You can see the full achievement of the coat of arms of the City at the bottom of the page on www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
Andrew Yong, 26 April 2000

The St. George's Cross, red on white, distinguishes a number of civic flags associated with London. That of the city of London bears in the canton, in red, the sword which beheaded St. Paul. On the shield which forms the badge of the Corporation of Lloyd's the Cross and Sword of London City are placed above a foul anchor in gold.
Jarig Bakker, 21 December 1999

Coat of Arms

by James Frankcom

The Arms and symbols of London. The City of London is ancient. Originally Caer Lud named after a mythical Celtic King Lud who is attributed to founding the city in c.130BC. The city was developed into a wealthy port by the Romans but then destroyed by Queen Boudicca of the Iceni in 60AD. Rebuilt again with new city walls in 100AD the city (now known as Londinium) then became the capital of the Roman province of Britannia. The city flourished under the Romans. The Roman legions left Britain in 410AD. The Bishop of London seemed to hold considerable authority over the city at this time which was almost a city state. London was evacuated in 470AD when its defence against the marauding Saxons and Jutes from their base in Kent became impossible. The city was the abandoned and desolate for several centuries. It is said that the original tradesmen and burgers of London were allowed to move back into the mainly destroyed walled city of "Lundonwic". In the 1380 the cross of St. George with the red Sword of St. Paul in the canton was adopted as the city's arms are said to have been adopted. The current Arms of the City of London with the dragon supporters are an invention of the 17th Century. In 1899 London County Council was established engulfing half of the County of Middlesex and part of Surrey (Southwark). London continued to expand and in 1965 the Greater London Council was formed which engulfed nearly all of Middlesex (causing the complete abolition of the county), large parts of Surrey, Essex and Kent and a small part of Hertfordshire.

by James Frankcom

The GLC was granted arms which were used on all civic documents and flown frequently in flag form from County Hall until its abolition by Margaret Thatcher in 1986. London had no self government at all (apart from the residual square mile City of London) until the present Greater London Authority was established in 2000.
James Frankcom, 13 October 2003

Lord Mayor of the City of London

by Graham Bartram, courtesy of World Flag Database

Greater London Authority

The Greater London Mayor and Greater London Assembly form the Greater London Authority (GLA). The GLA will cover the same geographic area as the old Greater London Council (GLC) which was abolished in 1986. This had a coat of arms (a red chief bearing a gold saxon crown with a base of wavy blue and white stripes). I remember seeing a flag at the Thames Barrier back in the early 80s which I presume was the GLC flag: the shield from the GLC arms in the centre of a light blue field.

Whether or not the GLA will re-adopt the old GLC arms is an interesting question. Probably not, as the government is anxious to stress that the GLA will not be the GLC re-born.
Roy Stilling, 26 April 2000

from www.london.gov.uk, located by Nitesh Dave, 2 July 2000

This is the logo of the newly established Greater London Authority. The authority has recently launched it's own website at www.london.gov.uk. On the title page this logo can be clearly seen behind the newly elected Mayor Ken Livingston.
Nitesh Dave, 2 July 2000

I've been in touch with the Mayor's Office recently about their flag, and the reply was that the London Assembly does not have a flag, and there are no plans to introduce one at the moment.
Ian Sumner, 16 September 2003

Kingston-upon-Thames

Kingston-upon-Thames had a banner of its arms, three fishes on a blue background. I dare say other London boroughs do too.
Roy Stilling, 28 April 2000

Borough of Hackney

I saw a white flag with a coat of arms flying from the Hackney Town Hall yesterday. I assume it was the flag of the Borough of Hackney, but since I did not get a particularly good view of the flag, and haven't been able to find out anything about the coat of arms of Hackney, I can't confirm this or give any more information.
Jonathan Dixon, 6 October 2003

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