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House of Commons Yacht Club (United Kingdom)

image by Clay Moss, 14 June 2014

Flag of House of Commons Yacht Club
Burgee
Admiral of the Club

Flag of House of Commons Yacht Club

The House of Commons Yacht Club do not appear to have a web site. BR20, Flags of all Nations, now published as the website http://br20flagsofallnations.com covers both the HCYC ensign and burgee in its yacht club section:
http://br20flagsofallnations.com/index.php?country=UNKG&section=YACH.

Ensign:
The ensign is a 1:2 Red Ensign charged in the centre of its fly with the badge of parliament, a crown portcullis, in yellow. The reverse of the ensign shows the design in reverse.

Interestingly, the Parliamentary Archives currently highlight Sports and Parliament: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/parliamentary-archives/archives-highlights/sport-and-parliament. On this page they mention "Papers of the House of Commons Yacht Club 1953 - 2000.", but the accompanying photograph shows a cup reading "Challenge Cup for Team Racing in Yachts between the Old World and the New World. Presented by Sir Alfred Bossom, Baronet, MP, Admiral of the House of Commons Yacht Club 1953". The flag shown on this cup is quite different. I wonder, since the year on the cup is the starting year of the archive, whether the club as a whole is from 1953 and may have had a different flag before the current combination.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 12 April 2013

The club was formed in 1950. The special ensign was granted in 1968. The flag on the cup may have been that of the Admiral of the Club.
David Prothero, 14 April 2013

Burgee

image by Clay Moss, 14 June 2014

A green field again charged with the badge of parliament in yellow. BR20 indicated the reverse of the burgee shows the design in reverse, but I'd say the badge is symmetrical, meaning the reverse would show the design in obverse as well. No ratio is given for the burgee, so possibly this has never been specified, but the example shows a burgee of approximately 3:5.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 12 April 2013

Admiral of the Club

Speculative flag
image by Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 15 June 2014

David suggests the flag on the challenge cup may have been that of the Admiral of the Club. At the time I read that as a suggestion that it might have been Sir Alfred Bossom's personal flag. There's a certain logic to that, as the cup's year, 1953, is the year he was made Baronet of Maidstone, which might have occasioned the cup. Against it speaks that I could not find any information about a coat of arms similar to this. It now occurred to me that, as the centre of the design has a somewhat similar shape to the badge of parliament while the field colour is green, the flag might be derived from the burgee as the rank flag for the Admiral of the Club.

Borrowing Clay's artwork, assuming the other colours are all a matter of reflection, I created the image above, which would be the speculative flag of the Admiral of the House of Commons Yacht Club. If there's an Admiral's flag, there may also be other officer's flags.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 15 June 2014