Butterworth Stavely is a fictional character in

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

's 1879 story "The Great Revolution in Pitcairn". He is an American adventurer and

filibuster A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...

who instigates a ''

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

'' on the

Pitcairn Islands The Pitcairn Islands (; Pitkern: '), officially the Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, is a group of four volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean that form the sole British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. The four isl ...

and has himself crowned "Emperor Butterworth I". Twain based his story on one sentence in a naval report by

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

officer

Algernon de Horsey Admiral Sir Algernon Frederick Rous de Horsey (25 July 1827 – 22 October 1922) was a Royal Navy officer, appointed aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria. He distinguished himself in Canada during the Fenian raids, and was thanked in Parliament for s ...

: "One stranger, an American, has settled on the island – a doubtful acquisition", which was probably referring to Peter Butler, a survivor of the 1875 ''Khandeish'' shipwreck. The story was probably also inspired by the life of American adventurer

Joshua Hill Joshua or Josh Hill may refer to: * Joshua Hill (baseball) (born 1983), Australian baseball player * Joshua Hill (Pitcairn Island leader) (1773–c. 1844), American adventurer * Joshua Hill (politician) (1812–1891), American politician * Josh ...

, who briefly ruled the Pitcairn Islands as a dictator in the 1830s. In the story, Stavely rises to political power by exploiting the internal divisions and suspicions surrounding a lawsuit between

Thursday October Christian II Thursday October Christian II (1 October 1820 – 27 May 1911)"thePeerage.com - Gonzalo, Rey de Sobrarbe and others" (family tree), April 16, 2006, ''thePeerage.com'' webpage was a Pitcairn Islands political leader. He was the grandson of Fl ...

and Elizabeth Mills waged over a trespassing

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

. His machinations lead to the impeachment of the

chief magistrate Chief magistrate is a public official, executive or judicial, whose office is the highest in its class. Historically, the two different meanings of magistrate have often overlapped and refer to, as the case may be, to a major political and admini ...

James Russell Nickoy, Stavely's election as magistrate, a ''coup d'état'' against the "galling English yoke", and his coronation as emperor. Stavely's cynical manipulation of the easily corruptible islanders has been interpreted as an indictment of U.S. colonialism and the

cultural imperialism Cultural imperialism (sometimes referred to as cultural colonialism) comprises the cultural dimensions of imperialism. The word "imperialism" often describes practices in which a social entity engages culture (including language, traditions, ...

of American missionaries.

References

* Fictional American people Fictional emperors and empresses Fictional mercenaries Fictional pirates Fictional Oceanian people Literary characters introduced in 1879 Male characters in literature Mark Twain characters Pitcairn Islands politicians {{lit-char-stub

See also

References