William Austin Whiting (August 5, 1855 – January 18, 1908) was an
American lawyer and politician of the
Kingdom
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
,
Republic, and
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory ( Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding ...
. He served as
Attorney General of Hawaii
The Attorney General of Hawaii ( haw, Loio Kuhina) is the chief legal officer and chief law enforcement officer of Hawaii. In present-day statehood within the United States, the Attorney General is appointed by the elected governor with the approv ...
and was an associate justice of the
Supreme Court of Hawaii
The Supreme Court of Hawaii is the highest court of the State of Hawaii in the United States. Its decisions are binding on all other courts of the Hawaii State Judiciary. The principal purpose of the Supreme Court is to review the decisions of ...
. During his college years, he was
captain of the
1875 Harvard Crimson football team.
Life and career
Whiting was born August 5, 1855, in
Charlestown, Massachusetts. His ancestors included Massachusetts colonial governors
Thomas Dudley
Thomas Dudley (12 October 157631 July 1653) was a New England colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the tow ...
and
Simon Bradstreet
Simon Bradstreet (baptized March 18, 1603/4In the Julian calendar, then in use in England, the year began on March 25. To avoid confusion with dates in the Gregorian calendar, then in use in other parts of Europe, dates between January and Ma ...
, and Reverend
John Cotton.
He became a sixth generation
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
graduate, and served as
captain of the
1875 Harvard Crimson football team. After graduating Harvard, he became a lawyer and practiced in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and Charlestown.
Whiting resettled in the
Hawaiian Islands in 1880 where his uncle
James W. Austin was an associate justice of the
Supreme Court of the
Kingdom of Hawaii. He continued his law practice in
Honolulu
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...
.
In 1891, the newly enthroned Queen
Liliuokalani appointed him as
Attorney General succeeding
Arthur P. Peterson of the hold-over cabinet from the reign of King
Kalākaua
Kalākaua (David Laʻamea Kamananakapu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua; November 16, 1836 – January 20, 1891), sometimes called The Merrie Monarch, was the last king and penultimate monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, ...
.
As a cabinet minister, he sat as a member of the House of Nobles, the upper body of the
legislature of the kingdom. Considered a tool of the queen by her opposition, Whiting lost popularity for his defense of the controversial Marshal
Charles Burnett Wilson, a favorite of the queen and subordinate of the Attorney General. Whiting resigned on July 27, 1892, and was replaced by
Paul Neumann.
On January 11, 1893, he was appointed First Judge of the First Circuit Court. Six days later, the monarchy was
overthrown by pro-American elements in Hawaii. Whiting continued his position under the successive new regimes.
Following the unsuccessful Royalist
counter-revolution
A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...
, Whiting headed the military tribunal which sentenced Liliuokalani for
misprision of treason
Misprision of treason is an offence found in many common law jurisdictions around the world, having been inherited from English law. It is committed by someone who knows a treason is being or is about to be committed but does not report it to a p ...
. In this capacity, he was given the rank of Colonel by the
Republic of Hawaii. The trial was held in the former throne room of the
ʻIolani Palace
The Iolani Palace ( haw, Hale Aliʻi ʻIolani) was the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaii beginning with Kamehameha III under the Kamehameha Dynasty (1845) and ending with Queen Liliʻuokalani (1893) under the Kalākaua D ...
. The deposed queen was defended by Paul Neumann. She claimed ignorance but was sentenced to five years of hard labor in prison by the military tribunal and fined $5,000. The sentence was commuted on September 4, 1895 to imprisonment in an upstairs bedroom of ʻIolani Palace.
[; ; ]
Whiting continued working as a circuit court judge until his elevation to the Supreme Court. On January 11, 1896, he was appointed
Second Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court of the Republic of Hawaii succeeding the vacant seat left by the death of
Richard Frederick Bickerton. He held this position until the
annexation of Hawaii and the organization of the
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory ( Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding ...
on July 14, 1900.
After retiring from politics, he returned to his private law practice. Judge Whiting died on January 18, 1908; the cause of death was "dropsy caused by cirrhosis of the liver".
Personal life
He had a
common-law marriage
Common-law marriage, also known as non-ceremonial marriage, marriage, informal marriage, or marriage by habit and repute, is a legal framework where a couple may be considered married without having formally registered their relation as a civil ...
with Lizzie Nakanealoha (1853–1929), a
Native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawa ...
and the daughter of Luahine Kahiliopua Manuel (1831–1910).
They had three children: Lizzie Maunakapu Whiting (born 1885), who married
Carlos A. Long; Ethel Hakula Whiting (born 1887) and Austin Whiting (born 1889).
Her relationship with Whiting ended sometime after 1889. Nakanealoha remained a loyal supporter of Queen Liliuokalani. She served as the caretaker of Uluhaimalama, a garden planted by Liliuokalani after the overthrow in the
Pauoa Valley of Honolulu, and brought flowers wrapped in newspaper to the queen during her imprisonment. Later sources attributed their separation to Whiting's involvement in the 1895 trial of the queen. However, by at least 1895, she had already been married to a man named John Manā and lived with him in the Pauoa Valley.
Nakanealoha and John Manā were both named as devisees in Liliuokalani's deed of trust and were given the "premises on Ohua Lane, Waikiki, designated on the Map of Hamohamo as Lot No. Two (2); reversion to the Trustees."
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
*
:"A List of All the Cabinet Ministers Who Have Held Office in the Hawaiian Kingdom"
*
:Includes a list of Attorneys General for the Kingdom of Hawaii, their salaries and budgets
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiting, William Austin
American football running backs
19th-century players of American football
Harvard Crimson football players
Harvard College alumni
Players of American football from Massachusetts
People from Charlestown, Boston
Massachusetts lawyers
Hawaii lawyers
Hawaiian Kingdom Attorneys General
Hawaiian Kingdom politicians
Republic of Hawaii politicians
Hawaii politicians
Justices of the Hawaii Supreme Court
Hawaiian Kingdom judges
Territory of Hawaii judges