Every six months I check the UK National Archives for newly released files on the Isle of Man, and post a list of potentially interesting new releases. Many are not digitised, which can be frustrating for Isle of Man readers who cannot easily access the NRO at Kew. So my reading of HO/44/23331 was by special request!
In 1947 the Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey raised with the Home Office the signage for his official car, and as an aside, his letter heads. This was because in the aftermath of World War Two the Lieutenant-Governors of Jersey and Guernsey represented the War Office in the Channel Islands as Commander-in-Chief, and so had been entitled to a military car. It had “not been the practice in the Isle of Man to use a representation of the Royal Crown on the Lieutenant-Governors letter paper and official car”.(Lieutenant-Governor Bromet to Strutt, 10/2/1947).
All three Islands sought guidance on how to proceed. Interestingly, in seeking to advise the Islands’ Lieutenant-Governors on the signage and heraldry issues, the Home Office looked to Northern Ireland. The Governor of Northern Ireland, the 4th Earl Granville, had a car with a disc affixed to it with the Royal Crown, illuminated at night; the Governor’s standard on the bonnet, and no number plates. The Islands were happy to have models of the stationery used in Northern Ireland, but were less convinced by the official car. The Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey dryly declined a crest illuminated at night: “I am very doubtful I could live up an illuminated Crown over the car at night, and this might terrify the natives” (Lieutenant-Governor Grasett to Strutte, 12/2/1947).
In the end, the Home Office decided that there was no universal practice in relation to the use by Lieutenant-Governors, of the Royal Crown on cars and stationery and left it to individual discretion.
Peter Edge's Law Blog. 