A Set of Matching Diplomatic Documents Signed by President William McKinley and Queen Victoria
They appoint, and accept the appointment, of a Consul to Canada who went on to be U.S. Consul to Toronto
In all our years in this field, this is our first set of diplomatic signed by an American president and the monarch of Great Britain
Chester W. Martin was a Republican member of the Michigan State Senate in the 1890s who worked for the election of William McKinley in the 1896 presidential...
In all our years in this field, this is our first set of diplomatic signed by an American president and the monarch of Great Britain
Chester W. Martin was a Republican member of the Michigan State Senate in the 1890s who worked for the election of William McKinley in the 1896 presidential election. He was rewarded with a diplomatic post, which set him on course for a long career in the diplomatic service.
Document signed by McKinley, as President, October 15, 1897, appointing “Chester W. Martin of Michigan…Consul of the United States of America at Amherstburg, Ontario.” The document is countersigned John Sherman as Secretary of State. Sherman was the brother of Union General William T. Sherman. The Great Seal of the United States is intact.
Canada being a Dominion of Great Britain at the time, the appointment had to be approved by the British government, which it was.
Document signed by the Queen, “Victoria R”, London, December 8, 1897, “in the sixty-first year of Our Reign”, stating that “Whereas the President of the United States of America has by a commission bearing date the 15th day of October last, appointed Mr. Chester W. Martin to be Consul at Amherstburg, Ontario”; she asserts “We having approved of this appointment…hereby require that you do receive, countenance…and assist him the said Chester W. Martin in the exercise of his office…” The Queen’s seal is still present.
Martin remained at Amherstburg until 1906. He was next assigned to Martinique and Barbados, serving in these island locales from 1906-1914. Then came his greatest promotion, as he was returned to Canada and awarded the plum position of Consul to Toronto, remaining there from 1916 until his retirement in 1924.
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