Thomas Charles Byde Rooke
| Thomas Charles Byde Rooke | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
18 May 1806 Hertfordshire, England |
| Died | 28 November 1858 (aged 52) Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Resting place | Mauna ʻAla Royal Mausoleum |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Spouse(s) | Grace Kamaʻikuʻi Young |
| Children | Emma (hānai) |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Rooke Sarah Paillet Draper |
Thomas Charles Byde Rooke (18 May 1806 – 28 November 1858) was an English physician who married into the royal family of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He built a mansion called the Rooke House in Honolulu that became popular with political and social leaders of the Kingdom.
He was born on 18 May 1806 in Bengeo, Hertfordshire, England. His father was Thomas Rooke (1769–1814) and mother was Sarah Paillet Draper (died 1815).
He trained at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London and arrived in Honolulu about 1829 on an English whaling ship. In 1830 he married Grace Kamaʻikuʻi Young (1808–1866). In 1844 he met Abraham Fornander who worked for him surveying and supervising a coffee plantation.
Rooke built a house some time in the 1830s. The house faced the Nuʻuanu Valley and with each of its two floors measuring approximately fifty by fifty feet (floor area of 5,000 square feet (460 m2) or 460 square meters) was one of largest private homes in Honolulu at the time. It was used for medical practice, a large library, and for entertaining guests. It included a coach house and living quarters for kahu ("servants"). A wide veranda swept the front of the house, and four pillars supported the roof. The ground floor was Rooke's clinic and dispensary. The family lived upstairs, in a style redolent of a British manor house, with red Kashmir carpets, mahogany and dark oak furniture, and framed oil paintings. It was on the ma kai-Waikiki (southwest) corner of Beretania and Nuʻuanu Avenue and bordered by Fort Street and Chaplain Lane, 21°18′41″N 157°51′36″W / 21.31139°N 157.86000°WCoordinates: 21°18′41″N 157°51′36″W / 21.31139°N 157.86000°W. The one-and-a-half-acre parcel, called Kaopuana ("Raincloud"), was probably the gift of Kamehameha III.
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