Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 10, 1 October 1993 — Wilcox was Hawaiian revolutionary hero [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Wilcox was Hawaiian revolutionary hero

by Martha Webb The Honorable Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox was born Feb. 15, 1850 at Honua'ula, Maui to Kalua Makoleokalani, a direct descendant of King Lonohonuakini of Maui, and William Slocum Wilcox, formerly of Rhode Island, a sugar planter and cattle rancher. After completing his schooling, young Wilcox worked as a teacher and engineer, but his eoneem for the Hawaiian people soon led him into the political arena. He was elected to the Legislature of 1880 as the representative for the district of

Wailuku, Maui. After serving his term in the Legislature, he was chosen by King Kalākaua as one of three young Hawaiian men sent to study in Europe. Wilcox was admitted to the Royal Military Academy at Turin, Italy. He mastered the language and was successful in his course of study. After graduating, he was commissioned a Lieutenant of Artillery in the Italian forces, and not long afterward he married the Baroness Gina Sobrero, daughter of Baron continued on page 1 7

The life-size Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox Statue was unveiled Saturday, Sept. 11 at Wilcox Park at South King Street and Fort Street Mall in downtown Honolulu. OHA eulture specialist Manu Boyd chanted as part of a ceremony that included hula, ho'okupu presentations, and speeches by prominent community members. The statue was created by Jan Fisher, who aiso created the statue of Duke Kahanamoku at Kūhiō Beach. Photos by Jeff Clark

Wilcox

continuedfrom page 3 Lorenzo Sobrero and the Princess Vittoria Colonna di Stigliano. He was recalled to Hawai'i by his government and returned with high expectations, only to find that the change in the political climate whieh accompanied the "bayonet constitution" of 1887 had left him without meaningful work or the opportunity to participate in government. He moved to San Francisco, but neither temperament nor training suited him for exile. After a year he returned

to Hawai'i, and at the same time his wife sailed for Italy with their baby daughter. Neither his child nor his marriage survived the trip. Robert Wilcox retumed intending to promulgate a new constitution whieh would retum the vote to the Hawaiian people, who had been effectively disenfranchised by the property requirements of the bayonet constitution. In the early morning hours of July 30, 1889, he led a force of armed men, primarily Hawaiians, who succeeded in occupying the grounds and outbuildings of 'Iolani Palaee. Kalākaua would not eome forward to sign the new

constitution, and Wilcox and his men were eventually forced to surrender. Though Wilcox was imprisoned, a jury of his peers refused to convict him. After his release he ran successfully for the Legislature, and in the volatile years that followed, he remained in the forefront of Hawaiian politics. Lili'uokalani's accession to the throne was followed within two years by her forced abdication and, onee again, Wilcox raised and led a counterrevolutionary force in 1895. Their plans were discovered prematurely and he

was forced into hiding. After his capture, he was sentenced to death, but the sentence of this popular hero was eventually commuted and he was finally pardoned. In 1896, Wilcox married Princess Theresa Owana Kaohelelani, the nieee of Princess Elizabeth Kekaaniau Pratt who had been declared eligible for the throne by Order-in-Council enacted by Kamehameha III in collaboration with the National Assembly in 1 844. Wilcox continued to be active in the fight for the rights of his

people. He lobbied for the Organic Act, returning the franchise to Hawaiians. He was elected Hawai'i's first delegate to Congress on Nov. 6, 1890. After the expiration of his term of office, Wilcox continued in politics. The Home Rule Party, eomposed largely of native Hawaiians, supported him for governor and so petitioned President Theodore Roosevelt; however, to the great sorrow of his people, the career of the energetic patriot was cut short by illness and death on Oct. 23, 1903.