Jump to content

Godfrey Brown (politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Godfrey Brown
Kingdom of Hawaii
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
July 1, 1887 – December 28, 1887
MonarchKalākaua
Preceded byWalter Murray Gibson
Succeeded byJohn Adams Cummins
Kingdom of Hawaii
Minister of Finance
In office
July 17, 1890 – February 25, 1891
MonarchsKalākaua, Liliʻuokalani
Preceded bySamuel Mills Damon
Succeeded byHermann A. Widemann
Personal details
Bornc. 1838
Slough, England
DiedJanuary 9, 1928
England

Godfrey Brown (c. 1838 – January 9, 1928) was Minister of Foreign Affairs under King Kalākaua and Minister of Finance and under both Kalākaua and Liliʻuokalani.

Background

[edit]

Godfrey Brown was born about 1838 in Slough, near Windsor Castle in England, to landscape gardener Thomas Brown and his wife Mary Ann Rhodes. His maternal grandfather Godfrey Rhodes was a bank executive, and his maternal uncle also bore the name Godfrey. His father's ill health precipitated a relocation to Hawaii in 1844, by way of a six-month sea voyage around the Falkland Islands. At the time of the voyage, Godfrey had an older brother Arthur, and younger siblings Alice, Frank and Malcolm. Three maternal aunts Annie Rhodes Covington, Sarah Rhodes Pfister and Susannah Rhodes Robinson made the relocation to Hawaii with the Brown family. Brother Cecil Brown was born in 1850 at Wailua, Kauai County, Hawaii.[1]

Hawaii

[edit]

Youngest brother Cecil Brown was born in 1850 in Hawaii. All brothers except Cecil were schooled in New England, after which Godfrey worked for a while in New York, followed by employment in British Columbia, and an eventual return to Hawaii.[2] Godfrey and Cecil became financial officers of the Hawaiian Hardware Company.[3]

Legislative career

[edit]

For the 1878 Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Brown was Secretary of the Legislative Assembly, an appointed position to record the proceedings.[4] He was elected as a Representative for the 1884 session.[5]

The House of Nobles were appointed by the monarch, and included the cabinet positions. Brown was a member of the Nobles for the 1887 session in his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs,[6] and for the 1890 session in his position as Minister of Finance.[7][8] Both positions were appointments of Kalākaua. When Liliʻuokalani ascended to the throne upon the death of Kalākaua, she demanded the resignation of his entire cabinet.[9]

Death

[edit]

Brown remained in business for many years in Hawaii, as an officer with both the Hawaiian Electric Company and the Hawaiian Bell Telephone Company.[10][11] In 1894, he replaced Samuel Mills Damon as manager of a Honolulu bank when a San Francisco company acquired the bank's shares from founder Charles Reed Bishop.[12]

He spent his final years in England, and died there in 1928 at the age of 90.[13]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Brown 1918, pp. 8–10, 67.
  2. ^ Brown 1918, p. 18.
  3. ^ "Hawaiian Hardware Co". Evening Bulletin at Newspapers.com. August 11, 1890. Retrieved October 9, 2018.Free access icon
  4. ^ Lydecker 1918, pp. 13, 139.
  5. ^ Lydecker 1918, p. 152.
  6. ^ "King Kalakaua cabinet appointments July 1, 1887". Evening Bulletin at Newspapers.com. July 1, 1887. Retrieved October 9, 2018.Free access icon
  7. ^ Lydecker 1918, pp. 172–178.
  8. ^ "Kalakaua cabinet appointments June 17, 1890". The Honolulu Advertiser at Newspapers.com. June 20, 1890. Retrieved October 9, 2018.Free access icon
  9. ^ Kuykendall 1967, pp. 483–484.
  10. ^ "Hawaiian Electric Co. officers 1895". The Honolulu Advertiser at Newspapers.com. January 25, 1895. Retrieved October 11, 2018.Free access icon
  11. ^ "Hawaiian Bell Telephone Company 1894". The Hawaiian Gazette at Newspapers.com. February 9, 1894. Retrieved October 11, 2018.Free access icon
  12. ^ "S. M. Damon To Be Dethroned". The Hawaiian Gazette at Newspapers.com. August 14, 1894. Retrieved October 11, 2018.Free access icon
  13. ^ "Godfrey Brown, 90, Passes in England". The Honolulu Advertiser at Newspapers.com. January 10, 1928. Retrieved October 9, 2018.Free access icon

Bibliography

[edit]
[edit]
"A List of All the Cabinet Ministers Who Have Held Office in the Hawaiian Kingdom"