3-016-776 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Kamehameha IV., the late King of the Sandwich Islands, 1864. Engraving from a photograph. 'The young King, whose untimely death is now lamented by all who feel an interest in the moral and intellectual progress of the Hawaiian race or in the political independence of the Sandwich Islands, was indeed a fine fellow, with the mind and manners of an English gentleman...he stood over 6 ft. in height, was of an olive complexion, a very pleasing countenance, and an agreeable gentlemanly demeanour... He spoke English...without the slightest foreign accent...Never, perhaps, did any Sovereign more sincerely resolve that...he would faithfully perform its duties. He has done so, not merely as an active, keen, and energetic ruler, but as a zealous patron of every work of social improvement or instruction designed by the English Church missionaries...for the benefit of his people. [In] 1856, he married Emma, the granddaughter, by a native woman, of John Young, an Englishman. In May 1858, the happiness of the royal marriage was completed by the birth of a son, who, unfortunately, died in August 1862; and this event cast a gloom over the sensitive and affectionate mind of the young father, which is thought to have hastened his own death'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.