Joshua W. Hill (15 April 1773 – 1844?) was an American adventurer. In 1832 he arrived on Pitcairn Island which was first inhabited in the 1790s by British mutineers from and some Tahitians who joined them. The descendants of the mutineers had chosen to migrate back to

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

following the death of the last mutineer,

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...

, but had recently returned. Hill, taking advantage of the instability, was able to be elected President of the island. He served in that position until 1838. His rule became increasingly tyrannical, and he began imprisoning many of the island's inhabitants. He was deposed and driven off the island in 1838, and the descendants of the original inhabitants took control of the island again. Hill was probably the basis for the character Butterworth Stavely in Mark Twain's short story ''The Great Revolution in Pitcairn''.

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Other sources

"Joshua Hill, the Self-Instituted King of Pitcairn: Separating the Truth from the Lies"
2012 lecture by Tillman Nechtman, PhD * Pitcairn Islands politicians 1773 births 1840s deaths 19th-century American politicians 19th-century national presidents American emigrants Heads of state of former countries {{Pitcairn-politician-stub