Commonwealth of England with England" was issued by the Lord Protector and proclaimed in Scotland by the military governor of Scotland, General George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle. The ordinance declared that "the people of Scotland should be united with the people of England into one Commonwealth and under one Government" and decreed that a new "Arms of the Commonwealth", incorporating the Saltire, should be placed on "all the public seals, seals of office, and seals of bodies civil or corporate, in Scotland" as "a badge of this Union". On the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, his son, Richard Cromwell, inherited the
England–Scotland Amateur Match planned for 1921 but was cancelled because a match between Britain and America had been arranged, the forerunner of the Walker Cup matches. Starting in 1927 Scotland and Ireland had played an annual match. In 1927 and 1929 this was held in Ireland, before the Irish Amateur Open Championship, while in 1928 and 1930 it was held in Scotland, just before the England–Scotland match. The 1931 Amateur Championship was held at Royal North Devon. On the previous occasions that it has been held there, there were far fewer Scottish entries than normal and as a consequence the Scottish team was