Description:

Victoria of England Queen


Queen Victoria Signed U.S. Diplomatic Appointment to Canada, 2 Years before Her Diamond Jubilee

 

1p partly printed and partly manuscript document signed by Queen Victoria (1819-1901) as "VictoriaRg" (Regina) at upper left. Victoria's signature is elegant and large, measuring 3.25" x 1.5". Bearing in the same corner an embossed paper seal reading in part "Victoria Dei Gratia Britanniarum Reg. F.D." Also signed by then Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley (1826-1902) as "Kimberley" at lower right. With expected paper folds, one with a minor closed tear at center left. Overall uneven toning and browning, else very good to near fine. 16" x 12.25".

 

At the Court of St. James' on October 5, 1894, the 75-year-old British monarch signed this order confirming the diplomatic appointment of James R. Jackson (b. 1838) as U.S. Consul to Sherbrooke, Quebec. Canada was still part of Victoria's massive British Empire, although after 1867, it had been granted status as a dominion. This new rank entitled Canada to practice limited self-government but still cede ultimate legislative authority to Britain.

 

"[signed] VictoriaRg

 

[printed]

Victoria by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, &c. &c. &c. To All and Singular Our loving Subjects to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting! Whereas, The President of the United States of America has by a Commission hearing date the twenty-third day of July last appointed Mr. James R. Jackson to be Consul at Sherbrooke, Quebec; and We having approved of this appointment according to the Commission before mentioned, Our Will and Pleasure are, and We hereby require that you do receive, countenance, and as there may be occasion, favourably [sic] assist him the said James R. Jackson in the exercise of his Office, giving and allowing unto him all the Privileges, Immunities, and Advantages thereunto belonging.

 

Given at Our Court at St. James', the fifth day of October One Thousand Eight Hundred and Ninety four in the fifty-eighth Year of Our Reign.

 

By Her Majesty's Command.

 

[signed] Kimberley."

 

Sherbrooke, located in southern Quebec, was a flourishing manufacturing center connected by railroad to nearby hubs Halifax, Boston, and New York. By the late nineteenth century, it was also a populous college town with a vibrant academic culture.

 

James R. Jackson was a New Hampshire native. Prior to his 3-year-long consulship in Sherbrooke, the Democratic-leaning lawyer had served as clerk/secretary to the House of Representatives (1871), the Constitutional Convention (1889), and the Democratic State Commission (1888-1894). The U.S. Senate confirmed President Grover Cleveland's choice for the Canadian post on July 23, 1894. According to the January 1896 issue of Tribune Almanac and Political Register, Jackson's salary was $2,000 per year.

 

John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley served as Queen Victoria's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 1894-1895. He had previously served as her Secretary of State for Colonies between 1870-1874 and 1880-1882.

 

In late 1894, Queen Victoria was 2 years away from celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, or 60th anniversary of rulership. One of Great Britain’s longest ruling monarchs, Victoria oversaw an industrializing England and an expanding overseas empire including India after 1876. She, along with her nine children, would dominate European politics (and royal households) throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

 


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