Walter M. Gibson | |
|---|---|
 Photo of Walter M. Gibson | |
| Prime Minister of Hawaii | |
| In office May 20, 1882 – June 30, 1887 | |
| Monarch | Kalākaua |
| Preceded by | William Lowthian Green |
| Succeeded by | Position Vacant |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office May 20, 1882 – June 30, 1886 | |
| Monarch | Kalākaua |
| Preceded by | William L. Green |
| Succeeded by | Robert J. Creighton |
| Minister of the Interior | |
| In office June 30, 1886 – October 13, 1886 | |
| Monarch | Kalākaua |
| Preceded by | Charles T. Gulick |
| Succeeded by | Luther Aholo |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office October 13, 1886 – July 1, 1887 | |
| Monarch | Kalākaua |
| Preceded by | Robert J. Creighton |
| Succeeded by | Godfrey Brown |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Walter Murray Gibson January 16, 1822 At sea, Atlantic Ocean |
| Died | January 21, 1888 San Francisco, California |
| Resting place | Hawaii |
| Nationality | Kingdom of Hawaii, American |
| Political party | National |
| Spouse | Rachel Lewis Gibson (m. 1838) |
| Children | 3 |
| Signature |  |
Walter Murray Gibson (January 16, 1822 – January 21, 1888) was an American adventurer and a government minister in the Kingdom of Hawaii prior to the kingdom's 1887 constitution.
Gibson was born January 16, 1822, at sea between Gibraltar and England.[1] He was christened on March 6 in England in Stamfordham, Northumberland,[2] though he sometimes claimed to have been born in England.[3] As a young man, he taught a school in Elbert County, Georgia, though the land later became a part of Hart County, Georgia. He spent his young adulthood in Anderson District, South Carolina.[4] He was the captain of a ship and became involved in gunrunning in the Caribbean.[5] Later, he was jailed in the East Indies by the Dutch on charges of fomenting rebellion, was sentenced to death,[4] but managed to escape from Weltevreden Prison[4] in Java. He claimed receiving a vision while in prison to "build up a kingdom in these isles, whose lines of power shall run around the earth."[6][7] In 1859, he went to Utah Territory and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), persuading church president Brigham Young to allow him to establish a Mormon colony in the Pacific.[8]
Gibson arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1861, and founded a colony among members of the LDS Church who were already in the islands. He purchased land on the island of Lanai with funds from the colony in his own name, but was excommunicated after an investigation by the church regarding accusations of preaching false doctrine, maladministration of the colony,[9] and embezzlement of church funds.[5] The proceedings leading to his excommunication were initiated by letters from Jonathan Napela and other Native Hawaiian church leaders to church headquarters in Salt Lake City. Upon excommunication, he expelled those who did not support him from his colony and church[10] and began angling for secular political office and power.[citation needed]
In 1873, Gibson started his own newspaper to extol his virtues in English and Hawaiian called the Nuhou. He successfully ran for the House of Representatives in 1878[11] as a candidate of the King's Party, allying himself with King Kalakaua and portraying himself as the "voice of Hawaiians". In 1880 he bought the Pacific Commercial Advertiser (forerunner to the Honolulu Advertiser).[12]
In 1882, he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, and then in May of 1882, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hawaii by King Kalākaua. He also served on various boards, as Attorney General, Minister of the Interior, and Secretary of War.[11] He often held several cabinet positions simultaneously, and at one point, the cabinet consisted of only him and Minister of Finance John Mākini Kapena, resulting in newspapers labeling him the "Minister of Everything".[13][14]
Gibson was widely credited with encouraging Kalākaua to make rash political moves, which eventually led to the imposition of the 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii. One of his bolder plans included an attempt to build a Pacific empire, which drew the ire of both the international and local Hawaiian communities.[5] Sending the "homemade battleship" Kaimiloa to Samoa in 1887 resulted in suspicions from the German Navy and embarrassment for the conduct of the crew.[6]
On July 10, 1838, the sixteen-year old Gibson married the twenty-year old Rachel Margaret Lewis (1818–1844), daughter of Jesse and Hannah Lewis. Prior to their marriage, Gibson had been a boarder with the Lewises in their home in Sandy Springs, outside of Pendleton, South Carolina. They had three children: John Lewis (1838–1877), Henry (died 1893) and Tallulah (later changed to the Hawaiianized Talula, 1843–1903), who married Sheriff of Maui Frederick H. Hayselden. Rachel died in 1844, possibly from the cold conditions of the family's cabin floors or complications from her last pregnancy.[15][16]
Gibson's fortunes fell dramatically after being removed from power in 1887. He fled the islands for fear of his life and died penniless in San Francisco on January 21, 1888. His body was returned to Hawaii for a funeral and burial.[5]
According to Samuel W. Taylor, Gibson was a brilliant, audacious imposter who manipulated the LDS Church and Brigham Young to his own advantage. Young named him as missionary-at-large to convert Japan and other Pacific islands. He had some success in Hawaii but was excommunicated by Young. He then turned to politics becoming Hawaii's chief minister. He plotted the revolution of 1887, but was overthrown and saved from execution by a British diplomat.[17]
Sam Neill played Gibson in the 1999 film Molokai: The Story of Father Damien.
