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This flag was handed down through my mother's family. This one is clearly marked as celebrating Victoria's Silver Jubilee, 1837 to 1887. It also names her titles and all the territories where she is monarch, and claims a total population of 400 million subjects. We have another two flags which we guess date from the same era - one with just 3 white lions on a red ground, another with what I believe is the Royal Standard on a red and blue ground.

Mother's father was just 8 at the time. His 29 year old father worked for the Great Eastern Railway Company and I guess the railway station would have been decorated for the jubilee. I wonder if celebrations were held all around the world, from Ireland to the Leeward Islands, from Honduras to the Straits Settlements (wherever they may be). Did those countries see us as a beneficial power, providing government, infrastructure and trade, or just as invaders and oppressors?