George Hammond

George Hammond (1763–1853) was a British diplomat and one of the first British envoys to the United States from 1791 to 1795.

Early career Hammond was born in East Riding of Yorkshire, the son of William and Anne Hammond of Kirkella, During the peace talks between the 13 colonies of the United States of America and the Kingdom of Great Britain that would culminate in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, he served as a Secretary to David Hartley; while in Paris, he also learned some French. 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 at heart." His son, Edmund Hammond, would also join the Foreign Office.

Hammond left his post on 14 August 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. In this position he advised and befriended Grenville and met George Canning; Canning founded the newspaper the Anti-Jacobin 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 and Paris. Hammond died in 1853 at the age of eighty-nine or ninety.

Timeline of career

Source:

Secretary to Mr. Hartley's mission at Paris (17831784) Charge d'Affairs at Vienna (21 September 178810 October 1789) Secretary of legation at Copenhagen (20 February 179023 September 1790) Secretary of embassy at Madrid (24 September 17905 July 1791) Minister plenipotentiary to the United States (5 July 179130 October 1795) Under secretary of state for foreign affairs (10 October 179520 February 1806) Under secretary of state for foreign affairs (5 April 180711 November 1809) Commissioner for British claims on France (September 1814July 1828)