In political letters throughout history, the closing "Your Obedient Servant" appears many times (For example, president Lincoln uses it in all of his letters). Where and how did this phrase originate and how did its usage develop?
Learn English – Where did the term “Your Obedient Servant” originate
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Early specimens of 'your obedient servant'
The earliest Google Books match for "your obedient servant" at the close of a letter is from a letter from an Englishman (from York) contained in George Smith, The Compleat English Grammar (1758), as part of a somewhat more elaborate leave-taking:
The same Google Books search finds a match from The Gentleman's Magazine, or Monthly Intelligencer (June 1742), involving an interview with "Landois the Second," a courtier, originally published in Common Sense. In this instance, the phrase comes at the close of the interview:
And a translation (from Spanish) of the closing to a brief letter from General Wall to the Spanish ambassador on reprinted in Papers Relative to the Rupture with Spain (1762) ends with this:
But the Google Books search's earliest formal and succinct "your humble servant" in English-language letter closures are from the 1770s. The first appears in a letter from Walter Shirley to John Fletcher, reprinted in John Fletcher, A Vindication of the Rev. Mr. Wesley's Last Minutes (1771):
Then from William Tryon to Jonathan Trumbull written on April 17, 1778, and reproduced in The Town and Country (July 1778):
(In his letter of response to Tryon, Governor Turnbull used the equally polite wording "I am, Sir, your humble servant," leaving us to decide whether a humble servant or an obedient one is the more conformable to one's will.)
And the other in a letter from George Johnstone to Robert Morris, written on June 16, 1778, and reproduced in The Edinburgh Magazine, and Literary Miscellany (October 1778):
The Shirley letter was written and published in England, but both of the 1778 instances involve American correspondents—and indeed there appears to have been a vogue of this usage in the United States in the late 1700s.
The wording "Your obedient servant" was fairly common in both the United States and Great Britain by 1800.
Early specimens of 'obliged and obedient' (and often humble) servants
The lengthier sign-offs of the "obliged and obedient" school are spread across the late 1600s and much of the 1700s. I will try to provide a representative selection of these florid farewells, both with regard to year of writing and mode of expression. First, from William Temple to the King, written on December 4, 1674, published in Letters to the King, the Prince of Orange, the Chief Ministers of State, and Other Persons, volume 3 (1703):
From a letter from F.E. to "your grace" written some time in 1688 and reprinted in The State Letters of Henry, Earl of Clarendon, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland During the Reign of K. James the Second (1763):
From a supposed letter from Lady Lizard to the author, in Addison & Steele's The Guardian (April 30, 1713):
From a letter from Richard Steele to the clergy of the Church of England, in The Political State of Great Britain (January 1714):
From the epistle dedicatory to the second edition of William Petty, The Political Anatomy of Ireland, 1672 (1719):
From a letter from A, Ramsay to Jonathan Swift, written on August 1, 1727, in Letters Written By The Late Jonathan Swift, D. D. Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin; and Several of His Friends, volume 2 (1768):
From a letter from B. Motte to Jonathan Swift, written on October 4, 1735, and reprinted in Letters Written By The Late Jonathan Swift, D. D. Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin; and Several of His Friends, volume 4 (1766):
From an epistle dedicatory to the commissioners of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea in John Woodman, The Rat-catcher at Chelsea College: A Tale (1740):
From a letter written by John Spencer to the citizens of Bristol, England, reprinted in The Whitehall Evening Post Or London Intelligencer (1756):
Then, from a letter from Richard Grindall to William Watson, written on December 7, 1857, and reprinted in The Universal Magazine (1758):
In a letter from John Morgan to the Sheriff of Herfordshire, written on June 10, 1763, and published in The London Magazine; Or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer (1763):
And in a letter from George Washington to John Jay, written April 14, 1779, and reprinted in The Life of John Jay: With Selections from His Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers, volume 2 (1833):
Conclusion
Today, "Your obedient servant" may sound extravagant and highly ornamental; but in the second half of the eighteenth century, when it first became popular, it must have sounded almost brusque, arriving as it did after many decades of truly elaborate declarations of loyal and grateful servitude.
The short answer to the question "Where did 'Your obedient servant' originate?" is "In abject expressions of admiration of and devotion to powerful people by letter writers, book writers, and other supplicants seeking patronage, ingratiation, and in some cases forgiveness." The form later carried over to exchanges between equals, just because it seemed respectful and polite, and at some point received a pairing down to "Your humble servant"—and from there, perhaps, to the even more abrupt "Yours truly," "Sincerely yours," or just "Yours."
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Update (October 12, 2019): 'Your obedient servant' in letter closes before 1750
I checked the Hathi Trust database for of publications and found several instances of "Your obedient servant" at the close of letters published before 1742. Following are some examples.
From a letter of Secretary Windebank, clerk, to Viscount Conway (May 7, 1640), reprinted in Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Seriesof the Reign of Charles I, 1640 (1880):
From a letter from the Earl of Thomond to H. Cromwell (February 18, 1658) in A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, volume 7 (1742):
From a letter from Richard Watts to Joseph Williamson (June 12, 1667), in Calendar of State Papers, Domestic series, of the Reign of Charles II, 1667 (1866)
From the Epistle Dedicatory to the Lord Mayor and aldermen of London, in John Goodman, The Leaven of Pharisaism and Sadducism Purged Out : A Sermon Preached December 16, 1688 (1689):
From a letter from Elihu Yale to Captain James Perriman (January 20, 1689), in Records of Fort St. George: Letters from Fort St. George, 1689 (1916):
From a letter from Captain Peter Wall to Abraham Anselm (May 26, 1693), in The Manuscripts of the House of Lords, 1693–1695 (1900):
From a letter from Charles Brooke in answer to a paper by William Penn (~April 1697) in The Manuscripts of the House of Lords, 1695–1697 (1903):
From The Compleat Mendicant : or, Unhappy Beggar (1699):
From a letter from Matthew Birche to the government of Pennsylvania (August 17, 1699), in The Manuscripts of the House of Lords, 1699–1702 (1908):
From a letter from James Hamilton to Brigadier General Maitland (July 23, 1703), in Journals of the House of Lords, volume 17 (1701–1704):
From a letter from Sir George Rooke to the Governor of Gibralter (July 22, 1704), in The Manuscripts of the House of Lords, 1704–1706 (1912):
From a letter from John Gyles to Alderman M____ (February 16, 1709) in The Present State of Europe for the Month of March 1709 (1709):
From The Tatler, No. 78 (October 8, 1709):
From The Spectator, No. 398 (June 6, 1712):
From The Spectator, No. 432 (July 16, 1712):
From a letter by Thomas Cooke](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=dul1.ark:/13960/t4xh0r70p&view=1up&seq=42) to Nathaniel Elwick (February 1, 1722), in Records of Fort St. George: Diary and Consultation Book of 1722 (1930):
Thomas Cooke.
From a letter from the Duke of Montagu to the Duke of Newcastle (January 1728), in Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, 1728–1729 (1937):
From a letter from Joshua Ward to the editor of The Political State, in The Political State of Great Britain for January 1735 (1735):
JOSHUA WARD.
From a letter from Y. Z. to the author of The Political State in The Political State of Great Britain for April 1739 (1739):
These numerous examples indicate that use of "Your obedient servant" as part of a polite sign-off to a letter goes back to at least 1640, and had become fairly common in some formal settings by the final decade of the seventeenth century.