View source for William Austin Whiting

{{Short description|American judge (1855–1908)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Hawaiian Supreme Court Justice William Austin Whiting.jpg
| name                = William Austin Whiting
| birth_date          = August 5, 1855
| birth_place         = [[Charlestown, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death-date and age|January 18, 1908|August 5, 1855}}
| death_place         = [[Honolulu County, Hawaii|Honolulu County]], [[Territory of Hawaii]]
| education           = [[Harvard College]]
| relations           = [[James W. Austin]] (uncle)
|office =[[List of justices of the Supreme Court of Hawaii|Second Associate Justice]] of the [[Supreme Court of Hawaii|Supreme Court of the Republic of Hawaii]]
|termstart =January 11, 1896
|termend =July 14, 1900
|predecessor =[[Richard F. Bickerton]]
|successor = ''organization of the [[Territory of Hawaii]]''
|monarch = [[Liliʻuokalani]]
|office2 =[[Hawaiian Kingdom|Kingdom of Hawaii]]<br/>[[Attorney General of Hawaii|Attorney General]]
|termstart2 =February 25, 1891
|termend2 =July 27, 1892
|predecessor2 =[[Arthur P. Peterson]]
|successor2 = [[Paul Neumann (Attorney General)|Paul Neumann]]
|monarch2 = [[Liliʻuokalani]]
}}
[[File:Hawaiian Supreme Court Justices (PP-28-7-020).jpg|thumb|300px|right|William Austin Whiting (right) as Second Associate Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court with Chief Justice [[Albert Francis Judd]] and First Associate Justice [[Walter F. Frear]]]]
'''William Austin Whiting''' (August 5, 1855 – January 18, 1908)<ref>{{harvnb|Thayer|Castle|Howe|Pier|1909|page=198}}</ref> was an [[Americans|American]] lawyer and politician of the [[Kingdom of Hawaii|Kingdom]], [[Republic of Hawaii|Republic]], and [[Territory of Hawaii]]. He served as [[Attorney General of Hawaii]] and was an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of Hawaii]]. During his college years, he was [[Captain (sports)|captain]] of the [[1875 Harvard Crimson football team]].
== Life and career ==
Whiting was born August 5, 1855, in [[Charlestown, Massachusetts]]. His ancestors included Massachusetts colonial governors [[Thomas Dudley]] and [[Simon Bradstreet]], and Reverend [[John Cotton (minister)|John Cotton]].<ref name="Death" /> He became a sixth generation [[Harvard College]] graduate, and served as [[Captain (sports)|captain]] of the [[1875 Harvard Crimson football team]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gocrimson.com/sports/fball/history/Football_Captains_Media_Center|title=Media Center: Harvard Crimson Football – All-Time Football Captains|work=Harvard}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/footballamerican00davirich#page/64/mode/2up|title=Football, the American intercollegiate game|work=archive.org}}</ref> After graduating Harvard, he became a lawyer and practiced in [[Boston]] and Charlestown.<ref name="Death" />
Whiting resettled in the [[Hawaiian Islands]] in 1880 where his uncle [[James W. Austin]] was an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of Hawaii|Supreme Court]] of the [[Kingdom of Hawaii]]. He continued his law practice in [[Honolulu]].<ref name="Death" /> In 1891, the newly enthroned Queen [[Liliuokalani]] appointed him as [[Attorney General of Hawaii|Attorney General]] succeeding [[Arthur P. Peterson]] of the hold-over cabinet from the reign of King [[Kalākaua]].<ref name="Office" /><ref>{{harvnb|Kuykendall|1967|pages=476–478}}; {{harvnb|Allen|1982|pages=245}}; {{cite news|title=A New Cabinet – Some New Ministers for the Public to Swallow|newspaper=The Pacific Commercial Advertiser|location=Honolulu|date=January 14, 1893|volume=XVII|issue=3277|page=4|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85047084/1893-01-14/ed-1/seq-4/|access-date=November 12, 2016}}</ref> As a cabinet minister, he sat as a member of the House of Nobles, the upper body of the [[Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii|legislature of the kingdom]]. Considered a tool of the queen by her opposition, Whiting lost popularity for his defense of the controversial Marshal [[Charles Burnett Wilson]], a favorite of the queen and subordinate of the Attorney General. Whiting resigned on July 27, 1892, and was replaced by [[Paul Neumann (Attorney General)|Paul Neumann]].<ref name="Office" /><ref>{{harvnb|Allen|1982|pages=271–273}}; {{harvnb|Kuykendall|1967|page=550}}</ref>
[[File:Trial of Liliuokalani (PP-98-12-007) cropped.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Trial of Queen Liliuokalani]]
On January 11, 1893, he was appointed First Judge of the First Circuit Court. Six days later, the monarchy was [[Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii|overthrown]] by pro-American elements in Hawaii. Whiting continued his position under the successive new regimes.<ref name="Office" /><ref>{{harvnb|Kuykendall|1967|page=577}}</ref> Following the unsuccessful Royalist [[1895 Counter-Revolution in Hawaii|counter-revolution]], Whiting headed the military tribunal which sentenced Liliuokalani for [[misprision of treason]]. In this capacity, he was given the rank of Colonel by the [[Republic of Hawaii]]. The trial was held in the former throne room of the [[ʻIolani Palace]]. The deposed queen was defended by Paul Neumann. She claimed ignorance but was sentenced to five years of hard labor in prison by the military tribunal and fined $5,000. The sentence was commuted on September 4, 1895 to imprisonment in an upstairs bedroom of ʻIolani Palace.<ref name="Allen339">{{harvnb|Allen|1982|pages=330–339}}</ref><ref name="Trial">{{harvnb|Allen|1982|pp=123, 147, 187, 344–345, 347}}; {{cite news|last1=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Declines to Confess|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016412/1895-02-06/ed-1/seq-5/|access-date=October 1, 2016|work=The Daily Bulletin|page=5|location=Honolulu, HI|date=February 6, 1895|via=Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress}}; {{cite news|last1=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Five Years in Parlor|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82016412/1895-02-27/ed-1/seq-5/|access-date=October 1, 2016|work=The Daily Bulletin|page=5|location=Honolulu, HI|date=February 27, 1895|via=Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress}}</ref>
Whiting continued working as a circuit court judge until his elevation to the Supreme Court. On January 11, 1896, he was appointed [[List of justices of the Supreme Court of Hawaii|Second Associate Justice]] of the [[Supreme Court of Hawaii|Supreme Court of the Republic of Hawaii]] succeeding the vacant seat left by the death of [[Richard Frederick Bickerton]]. He held this position until the [[annexation of Hawaii]] and the organization of the [[Territory of Hawaii]] on July 14, 1900.<ref name="Office">{{cite web|title=Whiting, William Austin office record|work=state archives digital collections|publisher=state of Hawaii|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050331/http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/import/import/Government%20Office%20Holders%20-%20Name%20IMJ/W/Whiting,%20William%20Austin.jpg|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url=http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/import/import/Government%20Office%20Holders%20-%20Name%20IMJ/W/Whiting,%20William%20Austin.jpg|url-status=dead|access-date=June 17, 2014}}</ref> After retiring from politics, he returned to his private law practice. Judge Whiting died on January 18, 1908; the cause of death was "dropsy caused by cirrhosis of the liver".<ref name="Death">{{cite news|title=Wm. Austin Whiting Passes to the Beyond|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85047084/1908-01-19/ed-1/seq-1/|access-date=November 16, 2016|agency=The Pacific Commercial Advertiser|date=January 19, 1908|via=Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. }}</ref>
== Personal life ==
Whiting had three children out of wedlock by an unnamed woman. The three children are Elizabeth Maunakapu Whiting (born 1885), Ethel Hakula Whiting (born 1887), and Austin Whiting (born 1889). In the 1900 US Census, the children lived in John & Lizzie Mana's household as boarders.
== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
== Bibliography ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{cite book|last=Allen|first=Helena G.|title=The Betrayal of Liliuokalani: Last Queen of Hawaii, 1838–1917|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i2d0AAAAMAAJ|year=1982|publisher=A. H. Clark Company|location=Glendale, CA|isbn=978-0-87062-144-4|oclc=9576325}}
* {{cite book|last=DuPuis|first=Reshela Patrik|title=Documenting Community: Activist Videography in Hawai'i|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_uUeAQAAMAAJ|year=1997|publisher=University of Michigan|location=Ann Arbor|oclc=317898743}}
* {{cite book|last=Kuykendall|first=Ralph Simpson|author-link=Ralph Simpson Kuykendall|title=The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874–1893, The Kalakaua Dynasty|url=http://www.ulukau.org/elib/cgi-bin/library?c=kingdom3&l=en|volume=3|year=1967|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-87022-433-1|oclc=500374815}}
* {{cite book|last1=Thayer|first1=William Roscoe|last2=Castle|first2=William Richards|last3=Howe|first3=Mark Antony De Wolfe|last4=Pier|first4=Arthur Stanwood|last5=De Voto|first5=Bernard Augustine|last6=Morrison|first6=Theodore|title=The Harvard Graduates' Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iy1YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA198|volume=17|year=1909|publisher=Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association|location=Boston|page=198|oclc=1644049}}
==External links==
*{{cite book |title=All about Hawaii. The recognized book of authentic information on Hawaii, combined with Thrum's Hawaiian annual and standard guide |date=1891 |publisher=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=92–97 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000598560 |format=(original from University of Michigan)|via=[[HathiTrust]]}}
:"A List of All the Cabinet Ministers Who Have Held Office in the Hawaiian Kingdom"
*{{cite web |last1=Woods |first1=Roberta |title=LibGuides: Hawai`i Legal Research: Attorney General Opinions |url=https://law-hawaii.libguides.com/hawaii/attorneygeneral |website=law-hawaii.libguides.com}}
:Includes a list of Attorneys General for the Kingdom of Hawaii, their salaries and budgets
{{1875 Harvard Crimson football navbox}}
{{Attorneys General of Hawaii}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiting, William Austin}}
[[Category:American football running backs]]
[[Category:19th-century players of American football]]
[[Category:Harvard Crimson football players]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People from Charlestown, Boston]]
[[Category:Massachusetts lawyers]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Hawaii]]
[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom attorneys general]]
[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom politicians]]
[[Category:Republic of Hawaii politicians]]
[[Category:Justices of the Hawaii Supreme Court]]
[[Category:Hawaiian Kingdom judges]]
[[Category:Territory of Hawaii judges]]
[[Category:1855 births]]
[[Category:1908 deaths]]