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The South Africa Red Ensign was used as the unofficial flag of the Union of South Africa between 1910 and 1928. The flag was a red ensign defaced with the Coat of arms of South Africa on a white disc.

Creation
When the Union of South Africa was created in 1910, the only flag that had official status within it was the Union Jack as part of the British Empire. A new coat of arms was created in September of that year, with Admiralty warrants being issued in December authorising usage of the arms on a red ensign. Though they were intended for maritime usage, the South Africa Red Ensign was used on the land as a de-facto national flag similar with other colonies and dominions within the British Empire. In 1912, a royal warrant was issued amending the South Africa Red Ensign so that the arms were on a white disc to bring it into line with a rule in the Admiralty Flag Book requiring the arms to be on a white disc if any part of them were the same colour as the field of the ensign. In 1915, Louis Botha raised the South Africa Red Ensign over Windhoek after the conquest of German South West Africa as part of the South-West Africa campaign.

Replacement
Despite the South Africa Red Ensign being the de facto flag, it was not popular with both British and Afrikaner communities. In 1925, following the South African general election, 1924, where J. B. M. Hertzog was elected as the first National Party Prime Minister of South Africa, a bill was introduced to the Parliament of South Africa for a new flag of South Africa. Discussions to change the flag resulted in three years of volatile negotiations as Afrikaner decendents of Boers who fought in the Boer War found the Union Jack in the flag unacceptable while British settlers felt that the Afrikaner voting majority were attempting to remove British imperial symbols and Natal Province threatened to secede if the Union Jack was removed. A compromise was reached whereby the new flag would have the Union Jack in a reduced position upon it and not as an ensign. The Union Nationality & Flags Act 1928 also provided that the new flag of the Union of South Africa and the Union Jack would be flown together as official flags of South Africa. The South Africa Red Ensign ceased being used as the unofficial national flag but was retained in maritime usage as the merchant ensign until 1951.