Flag_of_Somerset_County,_Maryland

Flag of Somerset County, Maryland

Flag of Somerset County, Maryland

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The Flag of Somerset County, Maryland, United States, consists of a flag of Great Britain with the head of a Native American in the center. The flag was adopted in 1694 after the county received a Royal Warrant from King William III of England to use the Union Jack as its flag. That flag was later adopted by the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.[1]

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History

Somerset County was founded in the Province of Maryland in 1666 and was named after Mary Somerset, the sister-in-law of Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore.[2] The county did not have a flag initially. In 1693, Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, commissioned the creation and design of a flag for the county.[3][4] The following year, King William III of England granted Somerset County a Royal Warrant to use the "King's Colours" as their county flag.[1] The King's Colours became the flag of Great Britain in 1707 but the Kings of England had used it as a personal flag to symbolise the personal Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland.[1] The Indian in the center represented the local Native Americans who had a large number of settlements in the Somerset County area.[5][6]

On the year of the flag's adoption, the colonists in Somerset County started to use it as a naval ensign.[5] In the following years, it appears that the flag fell into disuse. In 1958, members of the Olde Princess Anne Days Committee and some Somerset County Commissioners discovered a facsimile of the flag in the house of Joshua Miles, who permitted a reproduction to be created.[5] Later, in the 1990s, the flag inspired the design of the flag of the University of Maryland as the Eastern Shore campus was located in Somerset County.[7]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Semmes, Raphael (1979). Captains and Mariners of Early Maryland. Arno Press. p. 772. ISBN 0405106262.
  2. [2]
    Jacob, John (2001). "Introduction". Somerset County in Vintage Postcards. Arcadia Publishing. p. 7. ISBN 0738513725.
  3. [3]
    "Somerset County planning to mark 350th year in 2016". Crisfield-Somerset County Times. County Times. 2016-01-05. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  4. [4]
    Rhodes, Jason (2012). Somerset County. Arcadia Publishing. p. 1. ISBN 978-0738592275.
  5. [5]
    "Somerset County Flag" (PDF). Visit Somerset. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-08. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  6. [6]
    "Accohannocks take their history out of hiding". Bay Journal. 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  7. [7]
    "The University Flag". University of Maryland. 2017-06-27. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
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