21/10/2026
🪡Our team have been hard at work to preserve and display a couple of the flags in our collection, making a change in the Nelson, Navy, Nation gallery in time for .
We think that the new flag on display, seen in the video on view behind Nelson's uniform from the Battle of Trafalgar, belonged to belonged to a Vice-Admiral called Sir Andrew Mitchell.
We don't have a lot of solid information about where and when this imposing ensign was used, so we've been making some deductions. For example:
-We know that it must date from after 1801, because the Union flag canton incorporates the St Patrick's Saltire (the red diagonal cross), which was only added to the Union flag in 1801.
-As it is a white ensign, it would have only been used by the Royal Navy's white squadron: Before 1864, the Royal Navy had three squadrons. In order of increasing precedence, these were the blue, the white and the red.
-Mitchell was promoted to the red squadron in 1804, so this flag can only have been used between 1801 and 1804, and would have flown from either of the ships Windsor Castle or Leander.
➡️Keep an eye on our channels as we'll be sharing a bit more about how we worked on conserving this flag behind the scenes before putting it on display.
