Consulate of the United States, Liverpool
The United States Consulate in Liverpool, England, was established in 1790, and was the first overseas consulate founded by the then fledgling United States of America. Liverpool was at the time an important center for transatlantic commerce and a vital trading partner for the former Thirteen Colonies. Among those who served the United States as consul in Liverpool were the writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, the spy Thomas Haines Dudley, and John S. Service, who was driven out of the United States Foreign Service by McCarthyite persecution. After World War II, as Liverpool declined in importance as an international port, the consulate was eventually closed down.
The American Consulate in Liverpool was situated on the third floor of the Cunard building on the Pierhead and permanently closed in 1975.
former consulate building
Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1841, a "prudent and efficient" consul.
CSS Alabama and the USS Kearsarge, painted by Édouard Manet.
John Surratt, one of the conspirators involved in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, took refuge in Liverpool.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
Hawthorne in the 1860s
Portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne by Charles Osgood, 1841 (Peabody Essex Museum)
Nathaniel Hawthorne's childhood home in Raymond, ME
Boston Custom House, Custom House Street, where Hawthorne worked c. 1839–40
