Consulate of the United States, Liverpool
Consulate of the United States in Liverpool | |
---|---|
General information | |
Address | Paradise Street[1] |
Town or city | Liverpool |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 53°24′14″N 2°59′10″W / 53.404°N 2.986°W |
Inaugurated | 1790 |
The United States Consulate in Liverpool,
History
The first consul was James Maury, who held the office from 1790 to 1829,[3][4] and whose portrait still hangs today in Liverpool Town Hall.[5]
In 1801 Maury chaired the inaugural meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Liverpool, representing Liverpool merchants trading with the United States. Maury was the first signatory to the society's rules and was its first President.[6] Maury held the position of consul for 39 years, until 1829, when he was removed from office by President Andrew Jackson.[6]
The consulate stood on the quayside of Steers Dock and the Pool of Liverpool. The building was decorated with a golden bald eagle, the national symbol of the United States and a reassuring sign to American sailors or travellers arriving at Liverpool docks.
According to Edwin Williams's New York Annual Register, published in 1835, United States Consuls were not paid, but were:
- "in effect, agents for commerce and seamen. They receive no yearly salaries... and their compensation is derived from the fees which they are allowed by law. [They] are principally occupied in verifying, in various forms, the legality of the trade of the United States with foreign nations, and in relieving and sending home American seamen, who by accident or misfortune are left destitute".[7]
Consul Nathaniel Hawthorne
Among other notable consuls was the author Nathaniel Hawthorne, appointed by President Franklin Pierce in 1853, shortly after the publication of Tanglewood Tales.[8] The position was considered the most lucrative foreign service position at the time, and was described by Hawthorne's wife as "second in dignity to the Embassy in London".[9] However, life in Liverpool was evidently expensive, and Hawthorne complained to the Secretary of State that he was underpaid, and asked for living expenses of $7,500, arguing that a consul:
- "cannot possibly live here with a family (unless he secludes himself from society and forgoes all the social advantages of a residence in England). A man might be comfortable with this in a New England village, but not, I assure you, as the representative of America in the greatest commercial city in England".[10]
In 1855 this was done. Congress passed a law fixing the salary of the consul at Liverpool at $7,500 per year.[11]
Hawthorne described in his journal the American seamen with whom he dealt as "most rascally set of sailors that ever were seen - dirty, desperate, and altogether pirate-like in aspect". It appears that he often found his consular duties to be a burden:
- "the duties of the office carried me to prisons, police-courts, hospitals, lunatic asylums, coroner's inquests, death-beds, funerals, and brought me in contact with insane people, criminals, ruined speculators, wild adventurers, diplomatists, brother-consuls, and all manner of simpletons and unfortunates, in greater number and variety than I had ever dreamed of as pertaining to America, in addition to whom there was an equivalent multitude of English rogues, dexterously counterfeiting the genuine yankee article."[12]
Hawthorne was retired from the position in 1857, having apparently discharged his duties in a "prudent and efficient manner" [13]
American Civil War
During the
In 1865, following the assassination of U.S. President
Consul Dudley wished to retire after the war and return to his law practice in New Jersey, but such was his knowledge of Confederate assets in Liverpool that he stayed on as consul, seizing Confederate ships and returning the proceeds of sale to the victorious United States Government.[23] Relations between Britain and the United States were tense after the war, in part because of the role of Liverpool blockade runners and commerce raiders and the widespread perception in America that Britain had been sympathetic to the defeated Confederacy. The claims arising out of these disputes, especially the Alabama Claims, would not be settled until the 1871 Treaty of Washington.[24]
20th century
After
Restoration and repair
Maury's former office now sits amid Liverpool's newest and largest shopping centre, Liverpool One. Once derelict and empty, it was the first building purchased by The Grosvenor Group in preparation of "The Paradise Street Project", an extensive redevelopment of Liverpool's central business district. The building, and the eagle which adorned it, were restored by the Grosvenor Group in 2008. The building has since been converted into a retail unit, leased by The Liverpool Sony Centre, and in addition houses three luxury apartments. Since December 2014 it has housed a branch of Cote Bistro.
The
Notable Consuls
- 1790–1829 James Maury
- 1853–1857 Nathaniel Hawthorne
- 1861–1872 Thomas Haines Dudley[28]
- 1878–1885 Stephen B. Packard
- 1959–1962 John S. Service
References
- McFarland, Philip (2004). Hawthorne in Concord. New York: Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-1776-7.
- Mellow, James R. (1980). Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-27602-0.
External links
- The Eagle Has Landed, article by Peter Elson on the restoration of the original consulate eagle, at the Liverpool Daily Post, October 2008, Retrieved July 12, 2010
- Obituary of John S. Service in The New York Times. Retrieved July 12, 2010
- Image of the restored eagle at Les Auld Photography, Retrieved July 12, 2010
Notes
- ^ a b "A civil ending to US war story". Liverpool Daily Post. November 14, 2008. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
- ^ Virginia Historical Society Archived 2010-06-20 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved July 12, 2010
- ^ Liverpool Athenaeum Archived 2010-06-17 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved July 12, 2010
- ^ p.49, United States Congress, Senate, Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, Volume 1, Retrieved July 18, 2010
- ^ US Embassy, London Archived 2008-08-21 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved July 12, 2010
- ^ a b Liverpool Athenaeum Archived 2010-06-17 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved June 1, 2010
- ^ Williams, Edwin, p.438, The New York Annual Register 1835 Retrieved July 18, 2010
- ^ McFarland, 186
- ^ Mellow, 415
- ^ Carroll, Francis M., p.57, The American presence in Ulster: a Diplomatic History, 1796-1996. Retrieved July 18, 2010
- ^ Myerson, Joe, p.184, Selected letters of Nathaniel Hawthorne Retrieved July 18, 2010
- ^ Meltzer, Milton, p.114, Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Biography
- ^ Horner, Bryan, p.151, An American liaison: Leamington Spa and the Hawthornes, 1855-1864 Retrieved July 2010
- ^ The Official Correspondence on the Claims of the United States by John Russell Russell Retrieved July 16, 2010
- ^ Bernard, Montague, p.366, A Historical Account of the Neutrality of Great Britain During the American Civil War Retrieved July 18, 2010
- ^ Beaman, Charles C., p.72, The National and Private Alabama Claims" Retrieved July 18, 2010
- ^ "The Alabama". Archived from the original on February 5, 2007. Retrieved February 26, 2007.
- ^ Annual Reports of the Navy Department: Report of the Secretary of the Navy. Retrieved July 16, 2010
- ^ "US Civil War steamship that sank in Liverpool gets protected status". BBC. August 30, 2019.
- ^ a b Eisenschiml, Otto, p.200, Why Was Lincoln Murdered? Retrieved July 18, 2010
- ^ Chamlee, Roy Z., p.492, Lincoln's Assassins: a Complete Account of their Capture, Trial. Retrieved July 18, 2010
- ^ Shuey v. United States, 92 U.S. 73 (1875).
- ^ Milton, David Hepburn, p.116, Lincoln's Spymaster: Thomas Haines Dudley and the Liverpool Network. Retrieved July 18, 2010
- ^ Milton, David Hepburn, p.118, Lincoln's Spymaster: Thomas Haines Dudley and the Liverpool Network. Retrieved July 18, 2010
- ^ Obituary at Berkeley University gazette Retrieved July 12, 2010
- ^ *Article by Peter Elson at the Liverpool Daily Post, October 2008, Retrieved July 12 2010
- ^ *Article by Peter Elson at the Liverpool Daily Post, October 2008, Retrieved July 12, 2010
- ^ Online Archive of California Retrieved July 18, 2010