Queen Emma | Page 8 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 14, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Huliheʻe, Its Owners and Visitors

John Adams Kuakini was born about 1789 with the name Kaluaikonahale, the son of Keʻeaumoku and his wife Nāmāhana. His sisters were Queen Kaʻahumanu (Kamehameha’s favorite wife who later became the powerful Queen Regent and Kuhina nui,) Kalākua Kaheiheimālie and Namahana-o-Piʻia (also queens of Kamehameha) and brother George Cox Kahekili Keʻeaumoku.

He married Analeʻa (Ane or Annie) Keohokālole; they had no children. (She later married Caesar Kapaʻakea. That union produced several children (including the future King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani.))

In 1838, Kuakini built Huliheʻe as his primary residence; a structure that exemplified Hawaiʻi’s ability to build modern structures; it is a two-story stone structure with a symmetrical floor plan that has strong similarities to a New England style house. These similarities were readily apparent to foreign visitors.

In 1838, a visitor who witnessed the palace under construction wrote: “It is of stone and as handsome a building as I have seen in the islands …. It is two story, has three rooms above and below, a lanai in front the whole length and a piazza back, the lower part painted marble color and the upper green. He has much of the Koa in it which is almost as nice as mahogany.” (NPS)

Huliheʻe Palace was a source of great pride for its builder and he would regularly show the palace off to foreign visitors to the island. Kuakini died December 9, 1844 in Kailua-Kona; Huliheʻe passed to his hānai son, William Pitt Leleiōhoku.

Leleiōhoku died a few months later, leaving Huliheʻe to his wife, Princess Ruth Luka Keʻelikōlani. It became a favorite retreat for members of the Hawaiian royal family.

Following Kuakini’s death, Amos Cooke and Thomas Rooke took the children of the Chiefs’ Childrens’ School (Royal School) on a visit to Kona, arriving on July 11, 1846. Cooke noted in his journal:

“… we landed at Kailua, & were escorted to the large stone house, builed by John Adams. It had been cleared of its furniture, but mats were plenty & we occupied them for beds. Our meals were cooked on board the vessel & brought on shore.”

“The house had three large rooms above 5 below. The boys took one end room above & the girls the other. The room under the girls was used as a dining hall while we were there. It was a large & commodious house & must have cost $10,000.”

Later, Kamehameha IV (Ruth’s half-brother, who had visited Huliheʻe as a student at the Royal School) and Queen Emma particularly enjoyed their time vacationing at Huliheʻe, and visited the palace many times with their son, Prince Albert.

Kamehameha IV signed a lease with Princess Ruth for Huliheʻe at $200 per year, with the agreement that additions and repairs made would be deducted from the rental. (Daughters of Hawaiʻi)

The King and Queen purchased the ahupuaʻa of Waiaha; in 1858 they moved to Kona for a 4-month stay. (That visit was cut short with the untimely death of Queen Emma’s hānai father, Dr Rooke.)

In May, 1861 Lady Jane Franklin, widow of a famed explorer, visited the palace. Lady Franklin describes Huliheʻe as “a huge house, with excellent rooms, standing within a grassy enclosure close upon the shore and faced to the sea by a wall of lava blocks. “

“We have the great house all to ourselves, every door and window open, scanty furniture (only a bed, a sofa, tables and chairs).” The future king and future owner of the palace, David Kalākaua, accompanied Lady Franklin on the trip. (NPS)

Shortly after being elected King in 1873, Lunalilo became ill and at the urging of Princess Ruth and Queen Emma went to Huliheʻe to recover. Lunalilo brought the Henry Berger and the Royal Hawaiian Band to the palace throughout Christmas and the New Year to entertain the royalty during the holiday season. Lunalilo never recovered from his illness and died shortly after returning to Honolulu.

Despite owning Huliheʻe Palace, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani chose to live in a large hale pili (traditional grass home) on the same oceanfront property. When she became ill in Honolulu, her doctors recommended that she return to Huliheʻe, her Kailua-Kona residence, where they believed she would more quickly regain her health.

She received medical attention, but did not recover. On May 24, 1883, Keʻelikōlani died at the age of fifty-seven at Haleʻōlelo, her hale pili. Per her will, Huliheʻe Palace went to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (who died within a year of inheriting the palace.)

Shortly after King Kalākaua finished building ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu (1882,) he purchased Huliheʻe from Pauahi’s estate in 1885 and turned Huliheʻe into his summer residence.

He completed some major renovations so that the palace would more closely resemble the modern structures he saw during his travels. He stuccoed the entire lava rock exterior and plastered over the koa-paneled walls. He felt that the palace was outdated and that these renovations were necessary so that Hawai’i could portray itself to the world as a modern society.

Other changes included enlarging the lanais, and hanging crystal chandeliers, like those he had seen in the United States and Europe, in the entry ways. The ceiling of the palace was given an ornamental cornice and gold leaf picture molding was added in some of the rooms.

Kalākaua felt that these larger and more modern palaces were more comparable to those that he saw when he was abroad, and that they were better suited for the aliʻi to live in. (During the renovation he also demolished Princess Ruth’s grass house that still stood on the property.)

The same year he finished renovation to Huliheʻe (1887,) Kalākaua, under threat of force, signed the ‘Bayonet Constitution.’ The King spent the majority of his time at Huliheʻe Palace after he signed the new constitution.

He continued to make improvements to Huliheʻe while living there and had a telephone line installed in the palace in 1888, which was one of the first telephones on the island of Hawai’i. He continued to entertain foreign visitors at the palace.

In 1889 the Prince and Princess Henri de Bourbon, members of the Austrian royal family, visited the palace and were entertained by the King. Kalākaua died in 1891 and his wife, Queen Kapiʻolani, inherited the palace. Kapiʻolani resided at Huliheʻe throughout the period of the subsequent overthrow.

Upon her death in 1899, the property went to her nephews, Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole and Prince David Kawānanakoa. Fifteen years after the Princes inherited the palace they sold it to a wealthy woman, Mrs Bathsheba Alien, for $8,600. (She died just one month after the transaction.)

For years the property sat vacant and eventually fell into a state of disrepair. In 1925, the Territory of Hawaiʻi purchased the property then turned it over to the Daughters of Hawaiʻi to run it as a museum (which they continue to do today.)

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Hulihee_Palace,_before 1884

‘John Adams’ Kuakini, royal governor or the island of Hawai’i, circa 1823

Bayside_view_of_Hulihee_Palace,_prior_to_1884

Huliheʻe_Palace,_Kona,_Hawaiʻi,_c._1859._Watercolor_by_Paul_Emmert

WLA_haa_James_Gay_Sawkins_Kailua-Kona-1852

Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani (1826-1883)

Hulihee_Palace_with_Princess_Ruth_Keelikolani’s_grass_house,_ca._1885,_by_C._J._Hedemann

Princess Ruth slept in a pili grass house rather than Hulihee Palace

Visit to Hulihee Palace, Kona, Hawaii by Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole (1871-1922) and party-(HSA)-PP-97-1-012

King_Kalakaua

Hulihee Plaque

Hulihee_Palace,_Kona-entry-gate

Hulihee Palace(left)-Mokuaikaua Church(right)

Hulihee in background-the girl sitting (left) is my mother-sitting next to her(in hat) my grandmother-1928

Esther Julia Kapiʻolani Napelakapuokakaʻe (1834–1899) was Queen consort of King Kalākaua

Chris J. Willis, John Maguire, and his son Charles Maguire-on_Hulihee_Palace-Lanai-(HSA)-PP-97-1-025

Map of Kailua Bay, noting Hulihee Palace

March 7, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Claims to the Crown Lands

Under King Kamehameha III, the most important event in the reformation of the land system in Hawai‘i was the separation of the rights of the King, the Chiefs, the Konohiki (land agents) and makaʻāinana (the native tenants.)

More than 240 of the highest ranking Chiefs and Konohiki in the Kingdom joined Kamehameha III in this task (generally referred to as the Great Māhele.) The first māhele, or division, of lands was signed on January 27, 1848; the last māhele was signed on March 7, 1848.

Each māhele was in effect a quitclaim agreement; in each māhele for lands for the King, the Chief or the Konohiki signed an agreement: “I hereby agree that this division is good. The lands above written are for the King. I have no more rights therein.”

The King retained all of his private lands as his individual property; one third of the remaining land was to be for the Hawaiian Government; one third for the Chiefs and Konohiki; and one third to be set aside for the tenants, the actual possessors and cultivators of the soil.

The high Chiefs and the lesser Konohiki were required to present their claims before the Land Commission to receive awards for the lands. Until an award for these lands was issued by the Land Commission, title to such lands remained with the government.

In the Māhele, of the approximate 10,000 awards, around 1,000,000-acres were reserved by King Kamehameha III as “Crown” lands, 1,500,000-acres were given by the King (as “Government” lands) to the ‘government and people’, approximately 1,500,000-acres were set aside for the Chiefs (as “Konohiki” lands) and less than 30,000-acres of land were awarded to the native tenants (Kuleana lands.)

Kamehameha III divided the lands he reserved for himself into two separate parts; the smaller portion he retained for his personal use (“Crown” lands); the larger portion he gave ‘to the Chiefs and people’ (“Government” lands.)

On June 7, 1848, Kamehameha III approved a Law, passed at the Council House, that listed respective ahupua‘a and ili that were “the private lands of His Majesty Kamehameha III … and said lands shall be regulated and disposed according to his royal will and pleasure subject to the rights of native tenants.”

Another long list of ahupua‘a and ili were noted as “the lands of the Hawaiian Government.” A shorter list of O‘ahu lands were “set apart for the use of the Fort in Honolulu, to be cultivated by soldiers and other tenants under the direction of the Governor of O‘ahu”. (An Act Relating to the Lands of His Majesty the King and the Government, 1848)

For a while, the ‘Crown’ lands were viewed and handled “to be the private lands of His Majesty Kamehameha III, to have and to hold to himself, his heirs and successors forever”. (An Act To Relieve The Royal Domain From Encumbrances, And To Render The Same Inalienable, 1865)

Kamehameha IV administered his land in much the same way as his uncle (as if it was his own private property.) In dispositions, Queen Emma joined him, waiving her right of dower in such lands.

Queen Emma was the first to make a claim to the Crown Lands as private property, with the death of Kamehameha IV.

She “claimed that all the property possessed by her late royal husband was his private property” and made claim of dower to one-half of the Crown Lands in the royal domain; the Attorney General opposed her claim, noting they constituted “a Royal Domain annexed to the Hawaiian Crown”.

Kamehameha V responded that he, as “hereditary successor to the throne, shall inherit the entire estate, both real and personal derived from his Majesty Kamehameha III, at his decease, and held by Kamehameha IV, the King lately deceased.”

The Hawai‘i Supreme Court, in deciding the Estate of Kamehameha IV noted, “In 1840 (Kamehameha III) granted the first Constitution by which he declared and established the equality before the law of all his subjects, chiefs, and people alike.”

“By that Constitution, he voluntarily divested himself of some of his powers and attributes as an absolute Ruler, and conferred certain political rights upon his subjects, admitting them to a share with himself in legislation and government. This was the beginning of a government as contradistinguished from the person of the King …”

“… who was thenceforth to be regarded rather as the executive chief and political head of the nation than its absolute governor. Certain kinds of public property began to be recognized as Government property, and not as the King’s.”

The Court noted, “These lands are to be in the perpetual keeping of the Legislative Council (Nobles and Representatives) or in that of the superintendents of said lands, appointed by them from time to time, and shall be regulated, leased, or sold, in accordance with the will of said Nobles and Representatives, for the good of the Hawaiian Government, and to promote the dignity of the Hawaiian Crown.”

The Court found, “while it was clearly the intention of Kamehameha III to protect the lands which he reserved to himself out of the domain which had been acquired by his family through the prowess and skill of his father, the conqueror, from the danger of being treated as public domain or Government property …”

“… it was also his intention to provide that those lands should descend to his heirs and successors, the future wearers of the crown which the conquerer had won; and we understand the act of 7th June, 1848, as having secured both those objects.” (Supreme Court Decision in the Matter of the Estate of Kamehameha IV, 1864)

The Crown Land stayed with the government and dower was acknowledged with Queen Emma, however there was a “settlement of a permanent annuity upon Queen Emma in lieu of her claim of dower in the royal domain.” (Alexander)

This litigation led to legislation which affirmed the decision of the court; on January 3, 1865, Kamehameha V approved an Act of the Legislative Assembly that initially noted …

“the history of said lands shows that they were vested in the King for the purpose of maintaining the Royal State and Dignity; and it is therefore disadvantageous to the public interest that the said lands should be alienated, or the said Royal Domain diminished.”

That 1865 law noted the Crown Lands “shall be henceforth inalienable, and shall descend to the heirs and successors of the Hawaiian Crown forever”.

The Act also noted that, “during the two late reigns, the said Royal Domain has been greatly diminished, and is now charged with mortgages to secure considerable sums of money” – the Law converted the mortgages to bonds. (An Act To Relieve The Royal Domain From Encumbrances, And To Render The Same Inalienable, 1865)

On the death of Kamehameha V, his half-sister, Ruth Keʻelikōlani, inherited his private lands, but the Crown Lands were held by the commissioners for the benefit of his successors.

Later (September 13, 1880,) Claus Spreckels purchased from Ruth Keʻelikōlani all her interest or claim in and to the Crown Lands. Rather than taking the issue to court, a compromise and an act was carried through the Legislature of 1882, where Spreckels received the ahupua‘a of Wailuku with ili and quitclaimed any interest in other Crown Lands. (Alexander)

Queen Lili‘uokalani made a claim to Crown Lands as her personal property. Noting, “Her cause of action is predicated upon an alleged ‘vested equitable life interest’ to certain lands described in the petition, known as ‘crown lands,’ of which interest she was divested by the defendants.”

However, the US Court of Claims noted, “It may not be unworthy of remark that it is very unusual, even in cases of conquest, for the conqueror to do more than to displace the sovereign and assume dominion over the country.”

The Court concluded, “The crown lands were the resourceful methods of income to sustain, in part at least, the dignity of the office to which they were inseparably attached. When the office ceased to exist they became as other lands of the Sovereignty and passed to the defendants as part and parcel of the public domain.”

“Since 1865, so far as the record before us discloses, the character of the crown lands has not been changed; they have passed to the succeeding monarch. The income, less expense of management, has been used to support the royal office and treated as belonging to the Crown. All other property of the King has uniformly passed to his heirs regardless of his royal successor.”

The Court further noted, “The constitution of the Republic of Hawai‘i, as respects the crown lands, provided as follows: ‘That portion of the public domain heretofore known as crown land is hereby declared to have been heretofore, and now to be, the property of the Hawaiian Government …” (Lili‘uokalani v The United States, 1910)

Today, abstracting (researching title) government lands is fundamentally different from abstracting private lands. For private lands, owners have a deed that evidences ownership and a title company can trace the ‘chain of title’ at the Bureau of Conveyances by researching the transfers of the land from owner to owner via legal documents.

Instead of a deed or other legal document, the State owns the majority of former crown and government land through passage of laws. Public land title is passed by ‘operation of law.’

Today, there is no paper title for the majority of public lands, i.e., there is no deed showing the State owns it. There is no ‘chain of title’ for the majority of former Crown and Government Lands, since the lands were never conveyed out of the government.

We now generally refer to the Crown and Government Lands as ‘ceded’ lands. Under the Admission Act, about 1.2-million acres are to “be held by (the) State as a public trust” to promote one or more of five purposes:
1. support of the public schools and other public educational institutions
2. betterment of the conditions of native Hawaiians (per the Hawaiian Homes Act, 1920)
3. development of farm and home ownership on as widespread a basis as possible
4. making of public improvements
5. provision of lands for public use

As noted in the earlier discussion of Crown and Government Lands above, these lands, though under the control of changing sovereigns and governments (Kingdom to Provisional Government to Republic to Territory to State,) were in and continue to remain in the ‘public domain’ for the public good.

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May 18, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Thomas Charles Byde Rooke

Thomas Charles Byde Rooke was born to Thomas and Sarah Rooke on May 18, 1806, in Bengeo, Hertford, England. He studied to be a Doctor at a branch of Christ’s College Hospital in Hertford and had studied in London where he graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1826.

He first landed in the Islands at Lahaina in 1829. After another season’s cruise his ship put in at Honolulu. Here Dr. Rooke was asked to remain and practice medicine, and, with the consent of his Captain, he agreed.

That year, Rooke married Grace Kamaikui, the second daughter of John Young, Kamehameha’s advisor (and “in his most perfect confidence”.) Grace was widow of Keʻeaumoku (Queen Regent Kaʻahumanu’s younger brother.)

The Rookes were apparently unable to have children of their own; when Grace’s sister, Fanny, had a child, Emma, she was hanai (a traditional custom of adoption) to the Rookes.

Emma’s formal education began at age five at the Chiefs’ Children’s School. She grew up speaking both Hawaiian and English, the latter “with a perfect English accent.”

At age 13, when the school closed in 1849, Rooke hired Sarah Rhodes von Pfister, an English governess, to tutor Emma for the next four years, but he also played an active role in her education. Emma learned a great deal about the outside world from her scholarly father, who assembled the finest library in Honolulu for her benefit.

At 20, on June 19, 1856, Emma married Alexander Liholiho, who a year earlier had assumed the throne as Kamehameha IV; she became Queen Emma. The couple had known each other since childhood.

Dr Rooke was one of the pioneers in the cultivation of coffee and was the charter member of the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society when it was organized in 1850, serving on the coffee committee.

Rooke had his office and dispensary in his home (“Rooke House” on the makai/Waikiki corner of Beretania Street and Nuʻuanu Avenue.) Rooke House was “like an old-fashioned New England house externally, but with two deep verandahs, and the entrance is on the upper one.”

“The lower floor seemed given up to attendants and offices, and a native woman was ironing clothes under a tree. Upstairs, the house is like a tasteful, English country-house, with a pleasant English look … the most English-looking house I have seen since I left home, except Bishopscourt at Melbourne.” (Bird)

He was also physician to the Court, friend and advisor to the royal family, and became a naturalized citizen. In 1844 he is listed as Port Physician, and in December, 1850, he was appointed to the first Board of Health and served as its chairman. Rooke served twice as a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Honolulu district.

He was “elegantly dressed, rubicund, affable, and redolent of delicious odors that I afterwards learned to recognize as indicative of acquaintance with the choicest brands of rare old wine. The cordiality of his manners placed me at ease”. (Lyman)

Dr Rooke was one of the ten Honolulu physicians who were signers of the charter of incorporation of the Hawaiian Medical Society on May 19, 1856.

Rooke also taught Emma by example. Not only did he provide medical care to the poor, he also served as physician at the Hospital for British Seamen, which was established in Pauoa Valley in 1846

Rooke foreshadowed the establishment of The Queen’s Hospital with his pleas in The Polynesian for the establishment of such an institution.

After living in the Islands for nearly 30-years, Dr Rooke died in November 28, 1858, at Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi, at the age of 52. He was buried in the Wyllie tomb, or Wyllie crypt, at Mauna Ala, along with other members of Emma’s family.

Although he did not live to see the opening of the Queen’s Hospital in 1860, it was he who kindled the spark which brought it into being.

“(W)e have lost not only the Senior Member of our Profession here, whose labors among this people and community during his long residence on these islands, have secured for him an enduring place in the memory of the Hawaiian Nation;”

“(B)ut, also, a brother, whose strict sense of professional propriety in his relations to as, as well as to those entrusted to his care, not less than his uniform kindness and urbanity of manners, have won for him our lasting esteem and respect.” (Hawaiian Medical Society; Polynesian, December 16, 1858) (Lots of information here is from Queen’s Medical Center and Kelley)

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Thomas_Charles_Byde_Rooke,_c._1840s

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Rooke_House

Old_photograph_of_the_Queen’s_Hospital

HawaiiMedicalAssociation

Wyllie Tomb-Thomas_Rooke

May 14, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Seacole and the Queen

Mary Jane Grant was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1805. Her father was a Scottish soldier and her mother was Jamaican. Mary learned nursing skills from her mother, who kept a boarding house for invalid soldiers.

“When I was about twelve years old I was more frequently at my mother’s house, and used to assist her in her duties; very often sharing with her the task of attending upon invalid officers or their wives, who came to her house from the adjacent camp at Up-Park, or the military station at Newcastle.” (Seacole)

Although technically ‘free,’ being of mixed race, Mary and her family had few civil rights – they could not vote, hold public office or enter the professions. (BBC)

“I nursed my old indulgent patroness in her last long illness. After she died, in my arms, I went to my mother’s house, where I stayed, making myself useful in a variety of ways, and learning a great deal of Creole medicinal art”. (Seacole)

In 1836, “until (she) couldn’t find courage to say ‘no’ to a certain arrangement timidly proposed,” Mary married Edwin Horatio Hamilton Seacole (the godson of Admiral Horatio Nelson;) but the marriage was short-lived as he died in 1844. (BBC)

“In the year 1850, the cholera swept over the island of Jamaica with terrible force. … they sent some clothes on shore to be washed, and poor Dolly Johnson, the washerwoman, whom we all knew, sickened and died of the terrible disease.”

“While the cholera raged, I had but too many opportunities of watching its nature, and from a Dr. B—, who was then lodging in my house, received many hints as to its treatment which I afterwards found invaluable.” (Seacole)

She travelled to Cruses, Panama to see her brother. A family friend developed cholera; there, she diagnosed it and gave medicine from her medicine chest (“I never travel anywhere without it.”)

“I went hastily to the patient, and at once adopted the remedies I considered fit. It was a very obstinate case, but by dint of mustard emetics, warm fomentations, mustard plasters on the stomach and the back, and calomel, at first in large then in gradually smaller doses, I succeeded in saving my first cholera patient in Cruces.”

War had been declared against Russia and following her trip to Panama, Mary had a pressing desire to go to Crimea to nurse the British soldiers whom she had grown both accustomed to and fond of when she had nursed them in Jamaica.

She tried to offer her services in London in the autumn of 1854; following several rejections, she traveled to the Crimea (on the northern coast of the Black Sea in the Ukraine) and opened the British Hotel and store at Balaclava and worked tirelessly during the year she spent there.

During an outbreak of cholera, Mary’s services were again in great demand. This time, she succumbed to the illness herself but made a full recovery. (Gabriel) She also saved others.

“I have seen her go down, under fire, with her little store of creature comforts for our wounded men; and a more tender or skilful hand about a wound or broken limb could not be found among our best surgeons.”

“I saw her at the assault on the Redan, at the Tchernay, at the fall of Sebastopol, laden, not with plunder, good old soul! but with wine, bandages, and food for the wounded or the prisoners.” (Russell, 1857; British Journal of Healthcare Assistants)

“She not only, from the knowledge she acquired in the West Indies, was enabled to administer appropriate remedies for their ailments, but, what was of as much or more importance, she charitably furnished them with proper nourishment …”

“… which they had no means of obtaining except in hospital, and most of that class had an objection to go into hospital.” (Sir John Hall, Inspector-General of Hospitals, 1856; British Journal)

“I trust that England will not forget one who nursed the sick, who sought out her wounded to aid and succor them, and who performed the last offices for some of her illustrious dead.” (Sir William Howard Russell, 1857)

Following the war in Crimea, Mary Seacole returned to England destitute and in poor health; however, her reputation after the Crimean War rivalled Florence Nightingale’s. She lived in London, as well as in Jamaica.

Then, on June 24th 1865, Mary Seacole made a Hawaiʻi connection. It turns out Queen Emma made a brief stopover in Kingston on her way to London.

Queen Emma was welcomed with a royal gun salute and was met by an honor guard of the 1st West India Regiment. As she landed, she graciously acknowledged the cheers of the many citizens of Kingston who had gathered to greet her. One of the citizens of Kingston who greeted the Queen was Mary Seacole.

In the words of the reporter of the Colonial Standard, “A carriage was in attendance at the wharf to receive Her Majesty, as soon as she entered the carriage Mrs Seacole requested the honour of placing around Her Majesty a magnificent cloak that had been presented to her by the Sultan, which she accepted, thanked Mrs Seacole and shook hands with her”. (Lumsden)

The two women shared a dedication to health care, Mary Seacole in the battles in the Crimea and Queen Emma through the practice of her father (an English physician) that eventually led to the formation of the Queen’s Hospital (named in her honor.)

Queen Emma decided to visit England and the British Government provided the ships to transport her and her party. It was on this voyage that she stopped at Kingston. In England she stayed at Windsor with Queen Victoria, and visited hospitals and educational establishments. (Lumsden)

The last 25 years of Mary Seacole’s life were spent in relative obscurity; she died in London on May 14, 1881 and is buried in St Mary’s Roman Catholic cemetery, Kensal Green, London. Queen Emma died four years later and is buried at Mauna Ala, Honolulu.

(Seacole was voted Greatest Black Briton in 2004. “As a black Jamaican woman in the 19th century, Mary Seacole stood up against the discrimination and prejudices she encountered. Against all odds, Mary had an unshakeable belief in the power of nursing to make a difference.” (BBC))

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Mary_Jane_Seacole

Mary Seacole

Mary_Seacole_Drawing

Sculpture of Mary Seacole

Mary Seacole portrait

Sketch of Mary Seacole by Crimean war artist William Simpson (1823–1899), c. 1855

Mother Seacole`s bust at Getty museum

Queen_Emma_of_Hawaii-1880-1881

Queen_Emma_in_Washington-1865

Sketch of Mary Seacole’s British Hotel in Crimea, by Lady Alicia Blackwood (1818–1913)

Map illustrating Mary Seacole’s involvement in the Crimean War

Mary_Seacole_Home_London_Plaque

Artist rendition of proposed Mary Seacole Statue

Mary Seacole gravestone

June 13, 2012 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hānaiakamalama – Queen Emma Summer Palace

Hānaiakamalama (Lit., the foster child of the light (or moon,)) now known as the Queen Emma Summer Palace, was the “mountain” home of Queen Emma, wife of Kamehameha IV.

The house was originally constructed by John George Lewis in 1848. John Young II bought it in 1850 and named the home “Hānaiakamalama.”

Queen Emma inherited it from her uncle, John Young II, son of the famous advisor to Kamehameha I, John Young I, in 1857.

Queen Emma was born Emma Naea in Honolulu on January 2, 1836, the daughter of a British aristocratic woman and a Hawaiian high chief.

She became the hānai child of Dr. and Mrs. T. C. and Grace Rooke, her mother’s sister who had no children of their own. Emma grew up speaking both Hawaiian and English, the latter “with a perfect English accent.”

At 20, Emma became engaged to the king of Hawai‘i, Alexander Liholiho, (Kamehameha IV,) a 22-year-old who had ascended to the throne in 1855. The couple had known each other since childhood.

In his first speech as king, Kamehameha IV stated the need for a hospital to treat the native population. Due to introduced diseases, the Hawaiian population had plummeted, with extinction a very real possibility.

To recognize and honor Emma’s efforts, it was decided to call the new hospital “Queen’s.”

Queen Emma used the home as a retreat where she could escape from the heat of Honolulu into the coolness of Nuʻuanu. It’s about 5-miles from Downtown Honolulu and 10-miles from Waikīkī.

It was through this land that Kamehameha the Great marched during what would become the Battle of the Nu‘uanu in April 1795.

Coincidently, Kamehameha was aided by foreigners, including John Young, Queen Emma’s grandfather, who provided the cannons and tactical know-how used in the battle.

This land, a portion of a grant known as Kaukahōkū, was originally designated as Fort Land; that is, it was set apart for the use of the Fort, probably as agricultural land. However, sometime in the 1840s Kekuanaoa, Governor of the island of Oʻahu, leased the land for private use.

The Summer Palace was modeled in the Greek Revival style. It has a formal plan arrangement, wide central hall, high ceilings and floor-length hinged, in-swinging shuttered casement window.

It is one-story, over a basement, and measures about 73-feet by 51-feet. The roof is hipped over the main portion of the home and gabled over the rear lanai that was converted to a room.

The large single room in the rear of the home, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh Room, was converted from a lanai in 1869, to prepare for the reception of the Duke during a visit to Hawai‘i.

The kitchen was a small structure apart from the house. Baths were taken through large tubs brought into the bedrooms by servants and filled with buckets of hot and cold water.

Three outhouses served the occupants; one reserved for the King and Queen, one for guests and another for servants.

The Summer Palace was saved from demolition by the Daughters of Hawaiʻi. Today, the Daughters preserve and maintain this residence and the Huliheʻe Palace in Kailua-Kona as museums open to the public.

The restored and furnished home of Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV offers a glimpse into the lifestyle of the Hawaiian monarchy.

The Daughters of Hawai‘i was founded in 1903 by seven women who were daughters of American Protestant missionaries. They were born in Hawai‘i, were citizens of the Hawaiian Kingdom before annexation and foresaw the inevitable loss of much of the Hawaiian culture.

They founded the organization “to perpetuate the memory and spirit of old Hawai‘i and of historic facts, and to preserve the nomenclature and correct pronunciation of the Hawaiian language.” (My mother was a Daughter.)

The property is open to the public, daily 9:00 am–4:00 pm; closed major holidays; Admission: Adult $6, Child 17 and under $1, Seniors $4; reservations required for groups of 20 or more.

The image shows Hānaiakamalama – Queen Emma Summer Palace. In addition, I have included other images of the property and Queen Emma in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii