George Hammond was a British diplomat and the first British envoy to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 from 1791 to 1795.

Early career

Hammond came from East Riding of Yorkshire

East Riding of Yorkshire

The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...

, enjoyed a liberal education, and was a Master of Arts and Fellow of Merton College, Oxford

Merton College, Oxford

Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...

. During the peace talks between the 13 colonies

Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...

 of the United States of America and the Kingdom of Great Britain

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

 that would culminate in the Treaty of Paris

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...

 in 1783, he served as a Secretary to David Hartley

David Hartley (the Younger)

David Hartley, the younger , statesman, scientific inventor, and the son of the philosopher David Hartley. He was Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull, and also held the position of His Britannic Majesty's Minister Plenipotentiary, appointed by King George III to treat with the United...

; while in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, he also learned some French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

. Subsequently, Hammond was appointed chargé d'affaires at Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 from 1788 to 1790, spent part of 1790 in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, and in 1791 found himself Counsellor of Legation at Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

.

Minister to the United States

Despite American grumbles over the lack of a British envoy since the peace treaty concluded the American revolution

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 in 1783, the decision for the British was by no means a simple one. The Articles of Confederation

Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution...

 lacked both a fixed seat of government and single leader to accredit an envoy, and few qualified diplomats desired the post and its yearly salary of £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

2500. David Hartley, himself approached for the position, recommended his former secretary Hammond to Charles Jenkinson

Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool

Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool PC , known as the Lord Hawkesbury between 1786 and 1796, was a British statesman. He was the father of Prime Minister Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool....

, who in turn passed on the name to newly appointed Foreign Secretary

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...

 William Grenville. Hammond was soon given the job, boarded a ship for Philadelphia in September 1791 along with Edward Thornton

Edward Thornton (1766–1852)

Sir Edward Thornton was a British diplomat, and father of Sir Edward Thornton .He was born in London, the third son of an innkeeper, but orphaned at an early age. He was educated at Christ's Hospital and at Pembroke College, Cambridge...

, secretary of legation, and arrived five weeks later on October 20.

Hammond initially met with then Secretary of State

United States Secretary of State

The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

 Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...

, but waited to formally present himself to President George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 before an American Minister to England was chosen; his reception on November 11, 1791 formally established relations between the two countries. Although Hammond described his situation as "new, critical and rather embarrassing", he also stated that "If I accepted a quarter of the invitations to dinner and tea parties which I receive I should have little time for business", and said of the leading families that "I have reason to think most of them are Tories

Loyalist (American Revolution)

Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...

 at heart."

Hammond had four children, aged oldest to youngest: William Andrew, George, Margaret, Edmund. His son, Edmund Hammond

Edmund Hammond, 1st Baron Hammond

Edmund Hammond, 1st Baron Hammond PC , was a British diplomat and civil servant. He was Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1854 to 1873.-Background:...

, would also join the Foreign Office.

Hammond left his post on August 14, 1795, leaving the consul general at Philadelphia, Phineas Bond, in charge until Robert Liston arrived in America.

Later career

Following his return from the United States, Hammond became an Undersecretary at the Foreign Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...

. In this position he advised and befriended Grenville and met George Canning

George Canning

George Canning PC, FRS was a British statesman and politician who served as Foreign Secretary and briefly Prime Minister.-Early life: 1770–1793:...

; Canning founded the newspaper the Anti-Jacobin

Anti-Jacobin

The Anti-Jacobin, or, Weekly Examiner was a newspaper founded by George Canning in 1797. William Gifford was its editor. Its first issue was published on 20 November and during the parliamentary session of 1797–98 it was issued every Monday....

in 1797, and Hammond acted as joint-editor. Hammond would later be sent to one or two posts in continental Europe, and sometime in the 1810s he was appointed as a commissioner on the Arbitration of Revolutionary Indemnities, and as such spent many years living alternatively in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

and Paris. Hammond died in 1853 at the age of ninety.

Timeline of career

• Secretary to Mr. Hartley's mission at Paris (17831784)
• Charge d'Affairs at Vienna (September 21, 1788October 10, 1789)
• Secretary of legation at Copenhagen (February 20, 1790September 23, 1790)
• Secretary of embassy at Madrid (September 24, 1790July 5, 1791)
• Minister plenipotentiary to the United States (July 5, 1791October 30, 1795)
• Under secretary of state for foreign affairs (October 10, 1795February 20, 1806)
• Under secretary of state for foreign affairs (April 5, 1807November 11, 1809)
• Commissioner for British claims on France (September 1814July 1828)