Aylmer Francis Robinson
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Aylmer Francis Robinson (1888–1967) was an owner of a large ranch that encompassed the island of Niihau in the
Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...
.


Life

Aylmer Francis Robinson was born May 6, 1888, at the Robinson family estate in
Makaweli Kaumakani (literally, "place in the wind" in the Hawaiian language) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kauai County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 749 at the 2010 census, up from 607 at the 2000 census. History Kaumakani was off ...
on the island of
Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island ...
during the
Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...
. His father was Aubrey Robinson (1853–1936) and mother was Alice Gay Robinson who was his father's cousin. This made him double great-grandson of family matriarch Elizabeth McHutchison Sinclair (1800–1892). Besides various properties on Kauai, the family owned the entire island of
Niihau Niihau ( Hawaiian: ), anglicized as Niihau ( ), is the westernmost main and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaii. It is southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel. Its area is . Several intermittent playa lakes provide wetland hab ...
since 1864. He was sent to the St. Mathew's Military School in
Burlingame, California Burlingame () is a city in San Mateo County, California. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay. The city is named after diplomat Anson Burlingame and is known for its numerous eucalyp ...
, and then graduated from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1910. He returned and worked at a
sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
in
Waipahu, Hawaii Waipahu () is a former sugarcane plantation town and now census-designated place (CDP) located in the Ewa District on the island of Oahu in the City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. As of the 2020 census, the CDP population was 43,4 ...
, in 1911. He became manager of the Makaweli ranch in 1912, and then a partner in the Gay and Robinson business, formed by his father and uncle Francis Gay. In 1922 he took over from his father who retired from managing the ranch on Niihau. He was scheduled for one of his weekly visits when a Japanese warplane crashed on the island after the
attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
in 1941. In what became known as the Niihau Incident, the pilot was captured, then freed by one of Robinson's Japanese employees. Robinson led American soldiers to the island, where the remains of both the pilot and aircraft were recovered. A species of
palm tree The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...
, ''
Pritchardia aylmer-robinsonii ''Pritchardia aylmer-robinsonii'' is a species of palm tree that is endemic to the island of Niihau, Hawaii, United States. It inhabits coastal dry forests at an elevation of . ''P. aylmer-robinsonii'' reaches a height of and a trunk diameter of ...
'' was named for him by botanist
Harold St. John Harold St. John (July 24/25 1892 – December 12, 1991) was a professor of botany at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa from 1929 to 1958. A prolific specialist in field botany and systematics, he is credited with discovering about 500 new spe ...
in 1947. Although never active himself in politics, he identified himself with the
Hawaii Republican Party The Hawaii Republican Party ( haw, ʻAoʻao Lepupalika o Hawaiʻi) is the affiliate of the Republican Party (GOP) in Hawaii, headquartered in Honolulu. The party was initially strong during Hawaii's territorial days, but following statehood the ...
, and residents of the family island voted solidly Republican even after the rest of the territory and later the state of
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
, turned Democratic. He never married, so when he died on April 3, 1967, the family estates went to his youngest brother Lester. The Gay & Robinson sugar business shut down in 2009 after 120 years.


Family tree


See also

*
Sugar plantations in Hawaii Sugarcane was introduced to Hawaiʻi by its first inhabitants in approximately 600 AD and was observed by Captain Cook upon arrival in the islands in 1778.Deerr, 1949 Sugar quickly turned into a big business and generated rapid population growt ...


References


External links

* Photo of Sinclair-Robinson family from 1893 * Family photo of Aylmer Robinson * Photos of Niihau incident {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Aylmer Francis 1888 births 1967 deaths People from Hawaii American planters Harvard University alumni