Bernice Pauahi Bishop
Born	Bernice Pauahi Pākī (1831-12-19)December 19, 1831 ʻAikupika,Haleākala, Honolulu, Oʻahu, Hawaii
Died	October 16, 1884(1884-10-16) (aged 52) Keōua Hale, Honolulu, Oʻahu, Hawaii
Burial	November 2, 1884[1] Mauna ʻAla Royal Mausoleum, Oʻahu, Hawaii
Spouse	Charles Reed Bishop ​ (m. 1850)​
Issue	Keolaokalani Davis (hānai)
Names Bernice Pauahi Pākī Bishop
Father	Abner Pākī Kekūanaōʻa(hānai)
Mother	Laura Kōnia Kīnaʻu(hānai)
Signature

Bernice Pauahi Pākī BishopKGCOKRoK (December 19, 1831 – October 16, 1884) was analiʻi (noble) of the royal family of theKingdom of Hawaii and a well knownphilanthropist.

Pauahi was born inHonolulu on December 19, 1831, in ʻAikupika the grass hut compound of her father,^[2]Abner Kuhoʻoheiheipahu Pākī (c. 1808–1855). Pākī was analiʻi (noble) from the island ofMolokaʻi, and son of Kalani-hele-maiiluna, who descended from thealiʻi nui (ruling monarchs) of the island ofMaui. Her mother wasLaura Kōnia (c. 1808–1857), the younger daughter of Pauli Kaʻōleiokū (1767–1818), by his second wife, Kahailiopua Luahine. Kaʻōleiokū was the son ofKānekapōlei, wife ofKalaniʻōpuʻu andKamehameha I, and Luahine was descended fromKalaimanokahoʻowaha who had greetedCaptain James Cook in 1778. Pauahi was named for her aunt,Queen Pauahi (c. 1804–1826), a widow of KingKamehameha II, and given theChristian name of Bernice.

In a survivingmele hānau (birth chant) for Pauahi, the namesKalaninuiʻīamamao andKeaweikekahialiʻiokamoku are referenced, and considered her main links to the Kamehamehas. Kalaninuiʻīamamao was the father of Kalaniʻōpuʻu and "stepfather" of Keōua, Kamehameha I's father, while Keaweikekahialiʻiokamoku was the common ancestor of both men. Pauahi's birth chant does not mention Kamehameha I himself.^[3]

She was adopted at birth byPrincess Kīnaʻu,^[4] sometime governing asKuhina Nui (regent) with the style of Kaʻahumanu II, but was returned to her parents in 1838 when Kīnaʻu gave birth to her daughter, Victoria Kamāmalu.^[5] Kīnaʻu died ofmumps in 1839.^[6] Pauahi began attending theChiefs' Children's School (later called the Royal School) that same year and remained there until 1846.^[6] Her teachers were Mr. and Mrs. Cooke. Pauahi greatly enjoyed horseback riding and swimming, and she also liked music, flowers, and the outdoors. She dressed like any fashionable New York or London woman of thetime.

It had been planned from her childhood that Pauahi, as a Hawaiian royal by birth, would marry herhānai (adopted) brother PrinceLot Kapuāiwa. Pauahi instead married businessmanCharles Reed Bishop May 4, 1850, despite the objections of her parents.^[7] Per her request, very few people attended her wedding, among the witnesses being her cousin, PrincessElizabeth Kekaʻaniau. The couple had no children of their own. They adopted a son named Keolaokalani Davis from Pauahi's cousin, PrincessRuth Keʻelikōlani in 1862, against the wish of Ruth's husband, but the infant died at the age of six months. In 1883, they offered to adopt William Kaiheekai Taylor (1882–1956), the infant son of Pauahi's distant cousin Lydia Keōmailani Crowningburg and Wray Taylor; they were the boy'sgodparents at his christening inSt. Andrews Cathedral. The Taylors refused to give up their firstborn son, but instead offered one of their twin daughters to the Bishops, who declined the second offer.^[8] The child, William Edward Bishop Kaiheekai Taylor was one of the first students at theKamehameha's Preparatory Department, and would later serve as thekahu (caretaker) of theRoyal Mausoleum of Hawaii at ʻMauna Ala from 1947 until his death in 1956.^[9]

Pauahi was educated at theRoyal School and was eligible to be a named heir. Prince Lot Kapuāiwa ruled asKamehameha V and offered Pauahi the throne on his deathbed in 1872. Taken aback, she replied, "No, no, not me; don't think of me. I don't need it." The king pressed on, but she again refused the throne: "Oh, no, do not think of me. There are others."^[10] This exchange was later corroborated by the personal writings ofJohn Owen Dominis, husband ofLiliʻuokalani, and Attorney GeneralStephen Henry Phillips.^[11] The king died an hour later, and Pauahi's refusal to accept the crown allowedLunalilo to become the kingdom’s first elected monarch.^[12]

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On October 16, 1884, at the age of 52, Pauahi died ofbreast cancer atKeōua Hale, Honolulu. She is interred in the Kamehameha Crypt of the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii at Mauna ʻAla, onOʻahu.

At her death, her estate was the largest private landownership in the Kingdom of Hawaii, comprising approximately 9% of its total area. The revenues from these lands are used to operate theKamehameha Schools, which were established in 1887 according to Pauahi's will.

By the time of her death in 1884, her estate consisted of 485,563 acres (which was reduced to 375,569 acres by the January 22, 1886 meeting of the Trustees of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate) of land across theHawaiian Islands, which she had either purchased or inherited from her parents Pākī and Kōnia, from her auntʻAkahi, from her cousin Keʻelikōlani, and other relatives. These lands were incorporated after Pauahi's death into the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estates, which funds theKamehameha Schools to the present day.^[13][14]

Bishop wished that a portion of her estate be used "to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools ... one for boys and one girls, to be known as, and called the Kamehameha Schools."^[15][16] She directed her five trustees to invest her estate at their discretion and use the annual income to operate the schools.When she wrote her will, only 44,000 Hawaiians were alive. After Bishop's death in 1884, her husband Charles started work in carrying out her will.

The original Kamehameha School for Boys was established in 1887. The girls' school was established in 1894 on a nearby campus. By 1955, the schools moved to a 600-acre (2.4 km²) location in the heights aboveKapālama. Some time later, Kamehameha Schools established two more campuses on outer islands:Pukalani,Maui and theKamehameha Schools Hawaii Campus inKeaʻau on theisland of Hawaii.

Charles Reed Bishop founded theBernice P. Bishop Museum in 1889 as another memorial to Pauahi, on the grounds of the original boys school.

In 1912,Walter F. Dillingham (ofDillingham Construction) purchased 84 acres (34 ha) from the former Bernice P. Bishop Estate, which used the land for property development to create the neighborhood ofWaikīkī and many of its early related buildings and structures (including theAla Wai Canal).^[17]

She was named a woman hero byThe My Hero Project.^[18]

Her will caused three major controversies. In 1992, a clause stating all Kamehameha Schools teachers must beProtestant was challenged as illegalreligious discrimination in employment by theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission. TheUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a decision of thedistrict court, and found o mm that the school had not proved that it was "primarily religious", and thus this clause violated theCivil Rights Act of 1964.^[19]

In 1997, severalconflicts of interest were charged. Trustees received up to $900,000 per year and put their own money into the investments of the estate. TheSupreme Court of Hawaii was directed in the will to replacement trustees, but also ruled on many cases involving the estate. An essay by JudgeSamuel Pailthorpe King andUniversity of HawaiiWilliam S. Richardson School of Law ProfessorRandall W. Roth and others was published as a series of newspaper articles,^[20] and later a book. After a number of legal battles, the trustees resigned and management was re-organized.^[21]

Trustees were also instructed "to devote a portion of each year's income to the support and education of orphans, and others in indigent circumstances, giving the preference to Hawaiians of pure or part aboriginal blood."^[16] Traditionally, this was interpreted as denying admission to students who could not prove native Hawaiian ancestry. A number of lawsuits challenged this policy, including a settlement reported to be $7 million.^[22]

National honours

• Dame Grand Cross of theRoyal Order of Kamehameha I.

• Dame Grand Cross of theRoyal Order of Kalākaua I.

• Kanahele, George S. (1999).Emma: Hawaii's Remarkable Queen. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.ISBN 978-0-8248-2240-8.OCLC 40890919.
• Kanahele, George S. (2002) [1986].Pauahi: The Kamehameha Legacy. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press.ISBN 978-0-87336-005-0.OCLC 173653971.
• Krout, Mary Hannah (1908).The Memoirs of Hon. Bernice Pauahi Bishop. New York: The Knickerbocker Press.OCLC 4683252.
• Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson (1953).The Hawaiian Kingdom 1854–1874, Twenty Critical Years. Vol. 2. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.ISBN 978-0-87022-432-4.OCLC 47010821.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson (1967).The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874–1893, The Kalakaua Dynasty. Vol. 3. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.ISBN 978-0-87022-433-1.OCLC 500374815.
• Liliuokalani (1898).Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen, Liliuokalani. Boston: Lee and Shepard.ISBN 978-0-548-22265-2.OCLC 2387226.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

• King, Samuel P. & Roth, Randall W. (2006).Broken Trust: Greed, Mismanagement, And Political Manipulation at America's Largest Charitable Trust. University of Hawaii Press.ISBN 978-0-8248-3044-1.OCLC 607748251.
• Rath, J. Arthur (2006).Lost Generations: A Boy, a School, a Princess. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.ISBN 978-0-8248-3010-6.OCLC 60515024.
• Williams, Julie Stewart (1999) [1992].Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (Revised ed.). Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press.ISBN 978-0-87336-057-9.OCLC 43266716.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toBernice Pauahi Bishop.

• "The Esoteric Curiosa: "A Traveling Kamehameha" Princess Bernice Pauahi Does The Grand Tour of Europe".
• "Bernice Pauahi Bishop Photograph Album 1847 - 1880".
• "About Pauahi". Honolulu, HI:Kamehameha Schools. Retrieved2014-09-15.
• "Biography from the Hawaiʻi Royal Family's official site". Archived fromthe original on 2008-01-28. Retrieved2008-02-23.
• "Pauahi statue unveiled".
• "Bernice and Charles: a match made in heaven".
• "The Bishops in Europe, 1875-1876".archives. Kamehameha Schools. Retrieved2010-03-08.
• "Bernice Pauahi dies".
• Will Hoover (July 2, 2006)."Bernice Pauahi Bishop".TheHonolulu Advertiser. Retrieved2010-03-08.
• Bernice Pauahi Bishop atFind a Grave

• 1831 births
• 1884 deaths
• House of Kamehameha
• Hawaiian Kingdom philanthropists
• Royalty of the Hawaiian Kingdom
• Deaths from breast cancer in Hawaii
• Burials at the Royal Mausoleum (Mauna ʻAla)
• Recipients of the Royal Order of Kalākaua
• Hawaiian adoptees (hānai)
• Royal School (Hawaii) alumni
• 19th-century philanthropists
• 19th-century women philanthropists

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