OCTOBER 5, 1902

HAWAIIAN HIGH CHIEFTESS ULULANI LEWAI BAKER DIED–GOVERNOR OF HAWAI’I

Descended from the high chiefs of Maui, Ululani Lewai Peleiōhōlani was born in 1858. Under Hawai’i’s 1840 Constitution, the islands of Hawai’i, Maui, O’ahu, and Kaua’i were administered by governors approved by the King. There were no gender restrictions. On October 15, 1886, Ululani was appointed Governess of the island of Hawai’i. A second Governess, Lanihua, ruled Kaua’i and Nihuan. Ululani’s husband, John Tamatoa Baker was the Big Island’s sheriff. Following the Bayonet Constitution of 1887, the decision was made to abolish the office of governor. While the act abolished the office irrespective of gender, the true aim was to remove women from government as the justification was that women were unqualified to appoint the police forces for the islands. When the post was reestablished in January 1891, during the brief reestablishment of the monarchy, women were barred from the post. The couple retired into the cattle business in Waimea on the Island of Hawaii where she died.

Source:  Colin Newbury, "Patronage and Bureaucracy in the Hawaiian Kingdom, 1840–1893," Wayback Machine: Pacific Studies. vol. 24, Issues 1 and 2, March/June 2001.  Retrieved 7/11/2019, https://web.archive.org/web/20120415124826/https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/PacificStudies/article/viewFile/10216/9862
Photo:  Author unknown. Date:  Pre-1902. Public Domain.