Ambrose K. Hutchison

Ambrose K. Hutchison
Ambrose K. Hutchison (top) at a meeting of The Holy Name Society at Kalaupapa, 1920s. His identification in the image is based on the opinions of Hutchison family relatives.
Born	c. 1856 Honomāʻele, Hāna, Maui
Died	July 17, 1932 (aged 76)
Nationality	Kingdom of Hawaii Republic of Hawaii United States
Occupation	resident superintendent of Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement
Spouse(s)	Mary Kaiakonui
Parent(s)	Ferdinand William Hutchison and Malie Moa
Signature

Ambrose Kanoeali‘i or Ambrose Kanewali‘i Hutchison (c. 1856 – July 17, 1932) was a long time Native Hawaiian resident of the leper settlement of Kalaupapa on the island of Molokaʻi who resided there for fifty-three years from 1879 to his death in 1932. During his residence, he assumed a prominent leadership role in the patient community and served as luna or resident superintendent of Kalaupapa from 1884 to 1897.

He was born in Honomāʻele, Hāna, Maui, in 1856, the son of Ferdinand William Hutchison and Maria or Malie Moa, a Native Hawaiian woman. His father, originally from Edinburgh, was an influential politician during the reign of King Kamehameha V and served as president of the Board of Health during the early development and management of the leper settlement of Kalaupapa. His mother died when he was young while his father left Maui for Honolulu to pursue a political career, leaving Ambrose and his siblings William and Christina in the care of their mother's relatives. He was given at one month old to be raised by his mother's sister who was a kahuna known for herbal cures. Hutchison wrote, in later life, that he may have contracted leprosy from a man "with large ears and bloated face, swollen hands and feet", who his aunt had treated. Another source was a vaccination using the lymph from the arm of another boy. From an early age, Hutchison was sent to boarding school in Honolulu under the auspices of the Anglican Archdeacon George Mason. At this time, the first symptoms of leprosy developed in 1868 when he was twelve years old and developed slowly until he became an adult.

His father and his sister Christina left Hawaii for Australia in 1875. In later life, Hutchison never mentioned his father by name possibly to shield him from the stigma of being related to a leper.