Charles Hastings Judd

Colonel Charles Hastings Judd (September 8, 1835 – April 18, 1890) was a Hawaiian businessman, rancher, courtier and politician who was born, lived, worked and died in the Kingdom of Hawaii. He served as chamberlain and colonel of the military staff of King Kalākaua and traveled with the monarch on his 1881 world tour.

Early life Charles Hastings Judd was born September 8, 1835, at the Old Mission Home across the street from the modern Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site in Honolulu. He was the fourth child and second son of American missionaries Gerrit P. Judd and Laura Fish Judd. Charles' younger twin sister was also named Laura Fish Judd (1835–1888) and his father, who had worked as a missionary physician, resigned his post to work as a political advisor and cabinet minister to King Kamehameha III. Charles' younger brother Albert Francis Judd served as Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court.

Judd was educated at Punahou School from 1842 to 1849 before attending the Royal School when the children of cabinet ministers were admitted to the institution. His classmates included fellow missionary descendant William Nevins Armstrong and the future King Kalākaua, both of whom developed a lifelong friendship with Judd during their childhood. From 1854 to 1856, Judd returned to Punahou and traveled with his mother and two sisters to the United States via the Isthmus of Panama to visit his relatives in 1855. During the reign of Kalākaua, in 1874, Judd was reappointed to the King's Staff as a colonel. Edward William Purvis served as his vice-chamberlain.

Colonel Judd (left) with King Kalākaua (center) and Colonel George W. Macfarlane (right) In this capacity, Judd traveled with Kalākaua on his 1881 world tour along with their childhood classmate Armstrong and Colonel George W. Macfarlane, the king's aide-de-camp. Judd's dark complexion and physical resemblance to Kalākaua led a few people, including Qing politician Li Hongzhang to mistake him for a Native Hawaiian, and the 5th Earl Spencer mistook him for the king. According to the Evening Star, a Washington, D. C. newspaper, "Col. Judd looks very much like Kalakaua, except that he wears a moustache simply. He was born in the islands, of New York parentage, but is burned as brown as a nut."

During this trip, Judd received many decorations from foreign governments. In Japan, he was bestowed with the Order of the Rising Sun. Judd was voted into the Freemasonry brotherhood at Perseverance Lodge No 1165 in Hong Kong and was bestowed with the masonry third degree at the Lodge Zetland in the East, No. 548, in Singapore. In Siam, he received the Knight Grand Cross of the Crown of Siam, Third Class. At the 1883 coronation of Kalākaua and Kapiolani, Judd served as Lord High Chamberlain while his wife served as lady-in-waiting to the queen.

After a disagreement about the king's increased expenditure, Judd was removed from the office of Chamberlain in August 1886. This was stated as a resignation in public announcements but Judd had been removed by the administration of Prime Minister Walter M. Gibson for disagreeing with Gibson's cabinet. Curtis P. Iaukea was appointed to succeed Judd as Chamberlain to the Royal Household. Judd regarded his removal from office as a "defection of the king, a lifelong friend, [which] preyed upon his mind with devastating effect and his health".

Judd resigned from politics, and devoted his time to business and managing property. He moved his family from Honolulu to the Leilehua Ranch house, which he co-owned with the king, and in 1889 to the Kualoa Ranch,

Family and descendants Charles Judd married Emily Catherine Cutts (March 19, 1840 – May 2, 1921) on November 1, 1859, and they had four children:

Julie Judd (November 26, 1860 – September 2, 1941), who married Francis Mills Swanzy, managing director of Theo H. Davies & Co. on November 9, 1887, at Honolulu. They had three children. Helen "Haunani" Judd (May 5, 1862 – January 7, 1935), who married Arthur Christopher Farley on March 9, 1882, at Boston. They lived in New England had four children. Emily Pauahi Judd (January 13, 1864 – February 13, 1948), who remained unmarried. Charles Hastings Judd II (September 3, 1868 – January 25, 1942) married (1) Mary Makalehua Roberts on June 22, 1890, at Kualoa; (2) Louisa Hart on December 24, 1903, at Waimea; (3) Florence Bush Lincoln on November 6, 1915, at Honolulu. He had three children from his first marriage and seven children from his second marriage.