Trübner's Bibliographical Guide To American Literature: A Classed List Of Books Published In The United States Of America During The Last Forty Years. ... Introduction, Notes, And Alphabetical Index
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Benjamin Moran was an American diplomat and author, who worked at the United States Legation (later the US Embassy) in London from 1853 to 1874.
Background
Benjamin Moran was born on August 1, 1820, in West Marlboro township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. His parents, middle-class English immigrants, settled in the United States in the early nineteenth century, the father, William, first acting as manager of a textile mill in Trenton, New Jersey, and later setting up as a cloth manufacturer on Doe Run in Pennsylvania.
Education
Benjamin received a good public-school education, during which he developed a marked interest in literature.
Career
At its close, he entered the employment of a Philadelphia printer to learn his trade. He was there thrown into frequent contact with authors, cultivated their acquaintance and, at thirty-one, determining himself to become a writer, abandoned his craft and sailed for Great Britain.
He toured England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland on foot, and though very short of funds, managed to visit the important literary shrines and other points of interest, and sold to American periodicals a number of short sketches illustrated by drawings. His experiences were subsequently published in book form under the title The Footpath and Highway: or, Wanderings of an American in Great Britain, in 1851 and '52 (1853), a work of no particular merit.
Moran was strongly attracted to England and, returning in 1853, spent most of the remainder of his life there. He first secured employment as temporary clerk at the American legation, perhaps because James Buchanan, then minister, had known his father through business connections.
In 1854 he became Buchanan's private secretary and when his chief retired was appointed permanent clerk on his recommendation. He proved himself an indefatigable worker and gained an exceptional knowledge of the archives.
In 1857 he was named assistant secretary of legation, and in 1864, secretary. The latter post he held until the close of 1874. On numerous occasions during this decade he served as chargé d'affaires in the absence of the minister. As secretary and chargé d'affaires, affording continuity from one minister to another, Moran exercised considerable influence on the diplomatic relations between the United States and Great Britain. He was stanchly loyal to the Union and, through his popularity in British political circles, played no small part in setting forth the Northern cause and preventing an open rupture.
In December 1874, in recognition of his services, he was named minister resident to Portugal, the first occasion on which an American secretary of legation had been thus promoted. When that office was discontinued in 1876, he became chargé d'affaires at Lisbon, filling the position until 1882, when he resigned, incapacitated by paralysis. He returned to England, a helpless invalid, and made his home with an intimate friend, Joshua Nunn, former American vice-consul, in Braintree, Essex County. Here he died on June 20, 1886.