WWl: Church flag mystery solved

The ensign from the HMS Queen drapes the walls of the transept.

The mystery of how a giant flag that flew at Gallipoli a century ago came to hang in a New Zealand church has been solved by a naval historian.

A report in the Herald told the story of the white ensign from HMS Queen that hangs in a corner of the Christchurch Cathedral in Nelson.

Local historians were in the dark over its exact origins.

But naval historian Gerry Wright has come forward to shed some light. Englishman Rear Admiral Cecil Fiennes Thursby, in charge of the Royal Navy invasion, retired to Nelson after the war, Mr Wright said.

In 1920, Thursby donated the ensign to the cathedral.