Last modified: 2023-11-11 by rob raeside
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image by Esteban Rivera, 4 October 2023See also:
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United
Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of
Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body
consisting of 650 members known as members of Parliament (MPs). MPs are elected
to represent constituencies by the first-past-the-post system and hold their
seats until Parliament is dissolved. It was
established in 1327.
Sources:
https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/lords-history/history-of-the-lords/
https://uk.linkedin.com/company/house-of-commons and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Commons_of_the_United_Kingdom
Esteban Rivera 4 October 2023
Tuesday 11 May 2021 saw the first flying of a new flag for the House of
Commons. Graham Bartram (official website:
http://www.flags.net), Chief Vexillologist of the Flag Institute, designed
it at the request of the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
The flag consists of
a gold parliamentary portcullis and coronet on a field of House of Commons
green. The emblem is set slightly towards the hoist so it appears centrally when
the flag is flying.
The flags will fly from left to right in precedence
order (https://www.flaginstitute.org/wp/uk-flags/british-flag-protocol):
Union Flag, House of Commons Flag, Union Flag (repeating the start of the
sequence) - see photo.
When flying another national flag the order will be as
follows: Union Flag, national flag, House of Commons flag.
Esteban Rivera, 4 October 2023
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image by Esteban Rivera, 4 October 2023
Source: https://uk.linkedin.com/company/house-of-commons
The portcullis was the heraldic badge of the House of Beaufort, and the first
Tudor king, Henry VII, who was of matrilineal Beaufort descent, adapted both the
portcullis and the Tudor rose into Royal badges of the
House of Tudor. Since then, the portcullis has been a moderately common
motif of English heraldry. Although the Palace of Westminster served as the
official royal residence for both Henry VII and Henry VIII until 1530, the
current use of the portcullis as a symbol of the palace and of Parliament does
not date from that time. Rather, the symbol was developed as part of Sir Charles
Barry's plans for the rebuilt palace after the original burned down on 16
October 1834; he conceptualized the new palace as a "legislative castle", and
the symbol of a castle gate—i.e. a portcullis—fit well with the scheme. Since
then, the portcullis has become the primary symbol of Parliament; an office
building for Members of Parliament (MPs), opened in 2001, is named "Portcullis
House".
It is often shown with chains attached, even when the blazon does
not mention them.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portcullis
Esteban Rivera, 4 October 2023
