Consulate General, Edinburgh
History
A measure of the growing confidence of the newly-independent United States
was the large number of consulates it established during the closing years
of the eighteenth century. President John Adams appointed the first U.S. Consul
to Scotland on July 14, 1798. The Consul was Harry Grant from South Carolina - an appropriate
choice, considering that state's strong Scottish heritage. The first known address
for the Consulate was 1 James' Place, adjoining Leith Links -- the street now
known as Links Gardens.
The second Consul, Joel Hart of New York, took over in 1818. Almost
immediately, he moved to London to work as a physician, returning to America within
five years. He held the post of Consul for Leith for sixteen years,
as the U.S. State Department was unaware of his departure. Indeed, it seems that
his only official act was to appoint a Vice Consul, who was left to conduct the
affairs of the Consulate. This first Vice Consul was Robert Grieve, a local ship chandler
with premises on the shore of Leith.
The next Consul, John Broadfoot, was also a local man, belonging to a firm
of general agents and ship brokers in Leith. Likewise, his successor
was a Leith merchant and agent, James McDowall, an American,
from Ohio. He was succeeded in 1861 by another American with a Scottish
sounding name - Neil McLachlan from Indiana, who signed himself "United States
Consul for Leith and its Dependencies".
The consular system gradually spread throughout Scotland with consulates in
Glasgow (1801-1965), Dundee (1834-1940), and Dunfermline (1871-1925); and consular
agencies in Aberdeen (1866-1922), Greenock (1873-1914), Kirkcaldy (1878-1909),
Galashiels (1882-1909), and Troon (1891-1921).
After fifty-six years in Leith, the U.S. Consulate crossed into Edinburgh in
1854, but it moved back to Leith in 1861. Ten different homes scattered around
Leith followed, though the Consulate finally settled in Edinburgh in 1883. It moved into its present
premises on the stately Regent Terrace in 1951. All six consuls appointed
since the 1990s -- Bobette Orr, Julie Moyes, Cathy Hurst, Liane Dorsey, Cecile Shea and Lisa Vickers, have been women, after an unbroken line of forty men.
One of the most public and widely-appreciated acts by a U.S. Consul was made
by the splendidly named Wallace Bruce in 1893, when he unveiled in the Calton Cemetery
a striking statue of Abraham Lincoln
bestowing freedom on an African American slave. The statue commemorates Scottish soldiers who fought
during the American Civil War, six of whom are buried in the Calton Cemetery. But there is another connection between President Lincoln and Scotland. In 1870, the widowed Mary Todd Lincoln traveled
to Scotland to visit the Deputy Consul, Rev. Dr. Smith, who had been her hometown
minister in Springfield.
In 1959 President Eisenhower visited Scotland and stayed at Culzean Castle. A suite of rooms at Culzean was gifted
to the President in appreciation for his leadership in the battle for Europe.
For Eisenhower, Culzean was a place to relax, play golf, paint, and walk. He
returned during retirement.
The darkest days of the Consulate's history took place just before Christmas
in 1988, when a jumbo jet exploded over Lockerbie. The Consulate's American
officials and local staff raced to the scene and worked there, along with hundreds
of Scots, for months to assist and comfort the victims' grieving families.
In 1995, the Consulate was slated for closure after deep cuts were made to
the State Department's budget. The outpouring of support from Americans and Scots alike
surprised many. Former Presidents George Bush and Jimmy Carter joined the campaign.
Just days before the scheduled closure, the Consulate won a reprieve.
In 2005, Scotland hosted the G8 Summit at Gleneagles in Perthshire. President George W. Bush was among the many world leaders present for this event.
The U.S. Consulate in Edinburgh has witnessed many changes in its 200 years.
It enters its third century proud of the tremendous relationship between two
great nations and hopeful for the future.
History provided with the assistance of Edinburgh Historical Enterprises
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History 
