William Henry Cornwell (May 30, 1843 – November 18, 1903) was an American businessman, as well as a military colonel and politician of 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 ...
. He served two separate terms as
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
and was a member of Queen
Liliuokalani's last cabinet before the
Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii
The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a ''coup d'état'' against Queen Liliʻuokalani, which took place on January 17, 1893, on the island of Oahu and led by the Committee of Safety (Hawaii), Committee of Safety, composed of seven foreign ...
.
Early life
He was born in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, and relocated to
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 ...
at an early age with his family where they became involved in sheep ranching in
Waimea. He formed a partnership with James Louzada for a sugar cane plantation on
Maui
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
, which was later sold to
Claus Spreckels
Adolph Claus J. Spreckels (July 9, 1828 – December 26, 1908) (his last name has also been misspelled as Spreckles) was a major industrialist in Hawai'i during the kingdom, republican and territorial periods of the islands' history. He also i ...
. Cornwell became a horse breeder, president of the Hawaiian Jockey Club, and a participant in the sport of horse racing.
[; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ]
Political career
Cornwell held the rank of
Major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
and later
Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
, as a staff member under both 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 Hawaiian Kingdom, Kin ...
and Queen
Liliuokalani.
During the 1890 legislative assembly, Cornwell served as a member of the House of Nobles, the upper house of the
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
, for the island of Maui. He continued his term in the House during the legislative session of 1892–93, which became known as the "Longest Legislature" for its unprecedented duration of 171 days. On November 1, 1892, he was appointed by Queen Liliuokalani as Minister of Finance and to form the short lived Cornwell Cabinet which consisted of
Joseph Nāwahī,
Charles T. Gulick and
Charles F. Creighton. This cabinet existed for less than a day when it was ousted by the legislature with a vote of 26 to 13. He was re-elected to his vacant legislative seat on December 5.
On January 13, 1893, Queen Liliuokalani re-appointed him as Minister of Finance to the Parker Cabinet with
Samuel Parker,
John F. Colburn
John Francis Colburn (September 30, 1859 – March 16, 1920) was a businessman and politician of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Kingdom of Hawaii. He served as the last Ministry of the Interior (Hawaii), Minister of the Interior to Queen Liliʻuokalani, ...
and
Arthur P. Peterson after the previous
Wilcox Wilcox may refer to:
Places
;Canada
*Wilcox, Saskatchewan
;United States
*Wilcox, Florida, an unincorporated community in Gilchrist County, Florida
*Wilcox, Missouri
*Wilcox, Nebraska
* Wilcox, Pennsylvania
*Wilcox, Washington
* Wilcox, Wisconsin
* ...
cabinet was voted out by the legislature the day before.
She had chosen these men specifically to support her plan of promulgating a new constitution while the legislature was not in session.
Publisher and philanthropist
Thurston Twigg-Smith
Thurston Twigg-Smith (August 17, 1921 – July 16, 2016) was an American businessman and philanthropist from Hawaii.
Biography
Twigg-Smith was a fifth-generation descendant of missionary settlers in Hawaii. He was born in 1921 in Honolulu, Hawaii ...
, the grandson of annexation leader
Lorrin A. Thurston
Lorrin Andrews Thurston (July 31, 1858 – May 11, 1931) was an American lawyer, politician, and businessman born and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Thurston played a prominent role in the Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom that replaced Q ...
, made the case that Cornwell was part of a royal inner
cabal
A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state, or another community, often by intrigue and usually unbeknownst to those who are outside their group. Th ...
of the queen's own cabinet ministers who worked to oust the monarchy. She attempted to promulgate a
new constitution, but Cornwell and the rest of the cabinet were either opposed to or reluctant to sign the new constitution. Their opposition was one of the causes which ultimately led to her
overthrow by the
Committee of Safety headed by Thurston. After the overthrow, Cornwell and the rest of the Parker Cabinet were removed from office.
After the overthrow of the monarchy and the annexation of Hawaii to the United States, Cornwell became a member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
and served as a delegate to
1900 Democratic National Convention for 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 ...
. He died at his home at
Waikapu, Maui, on November 18, 1903, of heart disease.
His remains were taken to Honolulu for his funeral and he was buried at the
Oahu Cemetery
The Oahu Cemetery is the resting place of many notable early residents of the Honolulu area. They range from missionaries and politicians to sports pioneers and philosophers. Over time it was expanded to become an area known as the Nuuanu Cemete ...
in Honolulu.
Personal life
He married twice: Blanche Macfarlane (1853–1880) and Josephine Colvin, who survived him, and had three children by his first wife: William Henry Cornwell, Jr., Blanche C. Walker. wife of J. S. Walker, Jr.; and Kate J. Braymer, wife of A. A. Braymer.
Citations
References
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External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwell, William Henry
1843 births
1903 deaths
People from Brooklyn
Hawaiian Kingdom politicians
Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom House of Nobles
Hawaiian Kingdom Finance Ministers
Hawaii Democrats
People from Maui
Burials at Oahu Cemetery
Hawaiian Kingdom military officers
People associated with the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom
American emigrants to the Hawaiian Kingdom
National Reform Party (Hawaii) politicians