George Charles Beckley

George Charles Beckley
George Charles Beckley
Born	March 5, 1787 England
Died	April 16, 1826 Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii
Burial place	Oahu Cemetery
Occupation	Sailor, military advisor
Known for	Designing the Flag of Hawaii
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Ahia

George Charles Beckley (March 5, 1787 – April 16, 1826) was an English captain, trader, and military adviser. He was one of the earliest foreigners to have a major impact in the Kingdom of Hawaii, where he would eventually become a noble, and was one of the disputed creators of the Flag of Hawaii.

Beckley was born in England, possibly on March 5, 1787. He moved to Veracruz when his father was granted a privateering licence by the Mexican government.

In 1801, Beckley arrived in Honolulu, in what was then known to him as the Sandwich Islands. He sold his ship to local chiefs and took up residence in the kingdom. He waylaid ships on the high seas and sold many of them to King Kamehameha I, who was attempting to consolidate his control over the kingdom. He eventually rose to some prominence in the court of Kamehameha and became one of his foreign advisors. On the occasion of the birth of the Princess Nāhiʻenaʻena at Keauhou, Kona, Hawaii, in 1815, Beckley was made a high chief by Kamehameha I so that he might, with "impunity enter the sacred precincts of the grass house and present the royal infant with a roll of China silk, after which he went outside and fired a salute of thirteen guns in her honor.".

American missionary Hiram Bingham I mentioned in his diary that an "Englishman Beckley" occupied a position of some importance on the islands. Russian explorer Otto von Kotzebue recorded his meeting with Beckley on the island of Oahu in his journal. Beckley continued to go to sea often, and was a major participator in the Sino-Hawaiian sandalwood trade. He organized trips to Fanning Island to hunt the valuable Hawaiian monk seal, and on occasion returned to privateering.

In 1816 Beckley became the first commander of Honolulu Fort, a military garrison erected on the waterfront of Honolulu by King Kamehameha I and Prime Minister Kalanimoku. The garrison was erected in response to the attempts of Russian agent Georg Anton Schäffer to build a fort on Oahu. Measuring three hundred yards on one side, the coral-rock structure was mounted with about forty guns including numerous cannons and was garrisoned with Hawaiian soldiers trained by Kamehameha I. Beckley implemented the tradition of wearing Western uniforms, gaining the name "Humehume" (cover up) by the Hawaiians. Previously the native soldiers only wore the traditional malo (loincloths).