Archibald Scott Cleghorn

Who was Archibald Scott Cleghorn?

Archibald Scott Cleghorn was a Scottish businessman who married into the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

He was born on November 15, 1835 in Edinburgh, Scotland, to Thomas Cleghorn and wife, Janet Nisbet. In 1851, at the age of 16, Cleghorn traveled with his parents to Honolulu, where his father established a dry goods store. His father died within the year, and his mother left for New Zealand, but Archibald remained in Hawaii and continued running the store. His business prospered and he expanded to other islands. With a Hawaiian woman, Elizabeth Pauahi Lapeka, Cleghorn had three daughters: Rose Kaipuala Cleghorn, who married James William Robertson, Helen Maniʻiailehua, who married James Harbottle Boyd, Annie Pauai, who married James Hay Wodehouse. Cleghorn and Lapeka later separated.

Cleghorn became a citizen of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1870. He married Princess Miriam K. Likelike, sister of David Kalākaua, on September 21, 1870. In 1874 Kalākaua became King, and Cleghorn's daughter Princess Victoria Kaiʻulani was the heir to the throne of the House of Kalākaua. In 1877, Cleghorn and Princess Likelike arranged to donate the land surrounding the monument to Captain James Cook on Kealakekua Bay marking the site of his death, in trust to the government of the United Kingdom.