Following the incorporation of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670, the company was granted permission on July 21, 1682, by the first governor of the company,
Prince Rupert, to use a modified version of the English
Red Ensign on its forts and ships entering
Hudson Strait. The flag consisted of the Red Ensign with the letters "HBC" in the lower fly. The flag shared a similar design as the
flag of Ontario and the
flag of Manitoba in using the Red Ensign. The canton of the flag has been changed twice. Between 1682 and 1707, the
flag of St. George was in the canton before being replaced by the
flag of Great Britain. In 1801 this was replaced by the
flag of the United Kingdom following the
Acts of Union 1800. Prior to 1869 the flag was used as both the flag of
Rupert's Land and the Hudson's Bay Company. After Rupert's Land was purchased by the
government of Canada, the flag continued as the flag of the HBC. The company stopped using its Red Ensign flag in 1965 after the
flag of Canada was introduced. In 1970, the company adopted the company's
governor's standard as its corporate flag. The flag was introduced in 1779 as the company's governor's standard and was flown to indicate the presence of the
company's governor at a specific location. The flag features the company's coat of arms on a white field. In the fall of 2012, the Hudson's Bay Company launched a re-design of both its corporate and retail logos. The company adopted a flag that was the same design as the company logo, which was the dark blue field and the letters "HBC" in the centre. The HBC logotype on the flag has varied over the decades. In historical photographs and postcards, the HBC logotype in the bottom-right corner of the flag have had multiple variants in typography, including periods embedded within as HB.C. as seen in old postcards and photos. ==See also==