A talk for Ignite Liverpool 9, based on the life of Nathaniel Hawthorne and his time as US Consul in Liverpool in the 1850s

1. Mr Hawthorne
Comes to Liverpool
Nathaniel Hawthorne
US Consul
July 1853 – October 1857

2. Nathaniel Hawthorne
1802-1864
๏ 1802 – born Salem, Massachusetts
๏ Salem a leading port for trade with the
orient
๏ Born on Independence Day, July 4th on
Union Street
๏ Parents Nathaniel & Elizabeth Hathorne
๏ Father (sea captain) died of yellow fever
when the young Nathaniel was 4 years old

3. Nathaniel Hawthorne
1802-1865
๏ William Hathorne came to America in
1630, became harsh judge in Salem
๏ John Hathorne only judge not to repent of
his actions at Salem witch trials
1692-1693
๏ Nathanial Hathorne changes to Nathaniel
Hawthorne after college graduation

4. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Early Years
๏ 1836 - becomes a magazine editor
๏ 1839 - starts work at Boston Custom
House
๏ 1842 – Marries Sophia Peabody (both of
them naturally reclusive throughout life)
๏ 3 Children – 1844 (Una), 1846 (Julian),
1851 (Rose)

5. Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter
๏ 1850 – The Scarlet Letter
published
๏ Set in Puritan New England
of 1642-1649
๏ Bestseller but doesn’t make
much money
๏ Complete with introduction
‘The Custom House’ which
upsets Salem residents

6. Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter
Major Characters:
๏Hester Prynne
๏Pearl
๏Roger Chillingworth
๏Arthur Dimmesdale

7. New World & The Old Word
in the 19 Century
th
๏ Transatlantic voyages reinstated after end of
Napoleonic Wars in 1815
๏ Regular passenger service between Liverpool & New
York in 1816
๏ Americans began to travel to the ‘Old Country’, travel
to Europe becomes accessible.
๏ Alexis de Toqueville (1835) Liverpool ‘destined to
become the centre of English trade’
๏ Common view of Liverpool was that it resembled New
York and was like a displaced American City
(Harriet Beecher Stowe & others)

8. The US Consulate in
Liverpool
๏ Consulate set up in
Liverpool in 1790
๏ First consul, James
Maury (1790-1829)

9. The Eagle
๏ Eagle restored in 2008,
oppposite John Lewis
(nr Jamie’s)
๏ Restored by
Conservation Centre at
NML
๏ Weighs 200kg
๏ Became site of The
Eagle Pub in Victorian
times
๏ Shop currently closed

10. Nathaniel Hawthorne &
Franklin Pierce
๏ 1852 Hawthorne writes
campaign biography for
Franklin Pierce
๏ Pierce becomes 14th
President of the USA
๏ Hawthorne offered
consularship by Pierce,
Hawthorne accepts, comes to
Liverpool in 1853

11. Mr Hawthorne comes to
England
๏ Comes to make his fortune
(target $20,000 overall)
๏ July 1853 arrives in Liverpool
with family
๏ ‘One of the best things about
“It has vanished long since, but
if there were boarding houses Liverpool, he thought, was
in paradise, I should certainly that is was so convenient to
expect it to be found again get away from.’ (Ron Jones)
there” – Julian Hawthorne ๏ Stayed first at Waterloo
Hotel, then Mrs Blodgett’s
Boarding House (133-135
Duke St)

12. Washington Buildings
๏ “a shabby and smoke-
stained edifice…located
at the lower corner of
Brunswick Street,
contiguous to the Goree
Arcade, and in the
neighbourhood of some
of the oldest docks.’” –
Our Old Home, p1
๏ “often thronged with…a
set of beggarly and
piractical looking
scoundrels” – OOH p1

13. Rock Park
๏ Main residence of Hawthorne family was Rock Park,
Rock Ferry (Wirral)
๏ 26 Rock Park – 12-room rented villa, annual rent of
£160
๏ Second year, Sophia, Una & Rose spent the winter in
Lisbon rather than (damp) Merseyside
๏ Nathaniel and Julian spent 8 months at Mrs Blodgett’s
๏ Nathaniel missed wife and children, Mrs Blodgett
looked after Julian
๏ After wife and daughters returned, spent last year as
Consul living in Southport

14. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Life as US Consul
๏ Official representative of American on formal
engagements in the city
๏ Present at laying of foundations stone for Free Library
& Museum, William Brown St, 1857
๏ Sorting out problems of countrymen
๏ “I have received and been civil to at least 10,000
visitors since I came to England; and I never wish to
be civil to anyone again…” - Hawthorne

15. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Life as US Consul
๏ “I never desired to be
burdened with public
influence, and the official
business was irksome.
When my successor
arrived, I drew a long,
delighted breath.” –
Hawthorne
๏ Lived in Rock Park &
Southport largely to avoid
social engagements

16. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Life after US Consul
๏ Wrote extensively about time
in Liverpool, including travels
to Leamington Spa, Warwick,
Oxford, London
๏ Travelled with family around
France and Italy
๏ Died in his sleep in 1864
while on a trip with Franklin
Pierce
๏ 1864, Sophia and three
children move back to
England

17. American Life in Liverpool
The Civil War Ends
๏ The American Civil War
ends in Liverpool
๏ November 1865, the
Shenendoah
surrenders to
authorities at Liverpool
Town Hall, the final act
of the war.
๏ Rumford Place,
unofficial confederate
embassy during war.

18. End of the US Consulate
๏ Decline in importance of
Liverpool as international port
after Second World War
๏ Last well-known Consul
(John S Service) retired in
1962
๏ US Consulate closed soon
after

19. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Further Reading
๏ The Scarlet Letter
๏ Twice-Told Tales
๏ Tanglewood Tales
๏ Young Goodman Brown (short story)
๏ Our Old Home
๏ Passages From The English Notebooks
๏ American Travellers in Liverpool (ed. David Seed)

20. Nathaniel Hawthorne
"No man... can wear one face to himself and
another to the multitude, without finally
getting bewildered as to which one may be
true.”
- Nathaniel Hawthorne