{{short description|British farmer and plantation owner in New Zealand and Hawaii}} {{about||the servant of Margaret Tudor|Elizabeth Sinclair (courtier)}} {{Use British English|date=June 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Elizabeth McHutcheson Sinclair | image = J. J. Williams, Portrait of Elizabeth McHutcheson Sinclair.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = Photograph taken by James J. Williams | birth_date = {{birth date|1800|4|26|df=y}} | birth_place = Glasgow, Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age|1892|10|16|1800|4|26|df=y}} | death_place = Makaweli, Kauai, Hawaii | alma_mater = | occupation = Farmer, rancher, landowner | known_for = matriarch of the Sinclair family that bought the Hawaiian island of Ni{{okina}}ihau | spouse = Francis W. Sinclair | children = George, Jane, Helen, James, Francis and Anne | parents = William (or James) McHutcheson and Jean Robertson | signature = }}
'''Elizabeth McHutcheson Sinclair''' (26 April 1800{{spaced ndash}}16 October 1892) was a Scottish homemaker, farmer, and plantation owner in New Zealand and Hawaii, best known as the matriarch of the Sinclair family that bought the Hawaiian island of Ni{{okina}}ihau in 1864. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, she married Francis Sinclair, a ship's captain. With six children in tow, the family moved to New Zealand. Her husband and eldest son (and much of the family's property) were later lost at sea.
After years of farming, mainly at Pigeon Bay on the Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region of the South Island, she decided to relocate to Canada. Unhappy with the conditions she found on Vancouver Island, she considered California but instead went to Hawaii where she bought the Hawaiian island of Ni{{okina}}ihau for {{US$|10,000|1864|round=-3|about=yes}}. This would have been roughly 530 troy ounces of gold, which in 2024 would be worth about $1,269,000.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Historical Gold Prices - 1833 to Present| url=https://nma.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/his_gold_prices_1833_pres_2024.pdf |website= National Mining Association | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251001182209/https://nma.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/his_gold_prices_1833_pres_2024.pdf | archive-date=1 October 2025| access-date=6 March 2026 | url-status=live }}</ref> She later bought additional lands at Hanapepe and Makaweli on the island of Kaua{{okina}}i.<ref name="Novitz">{{cite web |last1=Novitz |first1=Rosemary |title=Biography: Sinclair, Elizabeth |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1s13/sinclair-elizabeth/print |website=Dictionary of New Zealand Biography |publisher=Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311202720/https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1s13/sinclair-elizabeth/print |archive-date=11 March 2023 |date=1990 |url-status=live}}</ref> Her descendants, the Robinson family, continue to own and maintain the island of Ni'ihau.<ref name="Dunford">{{cite news |last1=Dunford |first1=Bruce |title=Seals, Boaters Threaten Niihau's Livelihood |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-01-adna-niihau1-story.html |access-date=7 March 2026 |work=The Los Angeles Times |agency=Associated Press |date=1 June 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250125125908/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-01-adna-niihau1-story.html |archive-date=25 January 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>
== Early life ==
Elizabeth Sinclair was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 26 April 1800. Known as "Eliza",<ref name="Novitz"/> she was one of six children born to William (or James<ref name="Novitz"/>) a successful merchant, and Jean Robertson McHutcheson (sometimes spelled "McHutchison").<ref name="Peterson">{{cite book |last1=Peterson |first1=Barbara Bennett |title=Notable Women of Hawaii |date=1984 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=0824808207 |pages=335–340 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Notable_Women_of_Hawaii/rFevAAAAIAAJ?hl=en}}</ref> Eliza married Captain Francis W. Sinclair (1797–1846) of the Royal Navy on 13 January 1824.<ref name="Peterson"/> They had three sons and three daughters. Sinclair was considered a master navigator, best known for saving the life of the Duke of Wellington in rough seas while escorting him on his return from the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.<ref name="Daws">{{cite magazine |last1=Daws |first1=Gavan |last2=Heap |first2=Timothy |author1-link=Gavan Daws |title=NIIHAU a shoal of time |url=http://americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1963/6/1963_6_48.shtml |access-date=7 March 2026 |magazine=American Heritage Magazine |volume=14 |issue=6 |date=October 1963 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219195340/http://americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1963/6/1963_6_48.shtml |archive-date=19 February 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |last=Stepien |first=Edward R. |date=1988 |title=Ni'ihau: A Brief History |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/0722e57d-e561-4605-bcbf-7579b7c77568/content |format=PDF |work=Working Paper Series |location=Honolulu |publisher=Center for Pacific Islands Studies, School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa |page=35 |access-date=7 March 2026}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Harrington |first1=Daniel |title=Biographies: Part 2 Glossary (M-S) |url=https://hawaiianencyclopedia.com/part-2-glossary-m-s.html |website=Hawaiian Encyclopedia |quote=Sinclair, Francis S.: Captain in the Royal Navy; commander of a British man-of-war that brought the Duke of Wellington back to England on his triumphant return after the Battle of Waterloo; husband of Eliza (McHutcheson) Sinclair; she was widowed when he disappeared at sea off Christchurch, New Zealand; mother of Anne McHutcheson (Sinclair) Knudsen. |access-date=7 March 2026}}</ref>
==New Zealand==
The Sinclairs moved to New Zealand, arriving in 1841; they settled in Pigeon Bay in 1843. Eliza's husband and her oldest son George disappeared at sea in 1846 during a business trip headed towards Wellington. Her husband was carrying all the family's cash and produce supplies.<ref name="Joesting_1984">{{Cite book |last=Joesting |first=Edward |url=http://archive.org/details/kauaiseparatekin0000joes |title=Kauai : The Separate Kingdom |date=1984 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press; Kauai Museum Association |isbn=978-0-8248-0943-0 |location=Honolulu}}</ref>{{rp|page=190}} After their disappearance, Eliza and her five remaining children were left to survive on their own. Eventually, with her children marrying and producing grandchildren, the Sinclairs needed more land, and Eliza's son Francis helped plan a new voyage towards that end.<ref name="Daws"/> They sold their property in New Zealand and sailed to the Pacific Northwest of North America with the goal of acquiring property in British Columbia.<ref name="Daws"/>
==Pacific Northwest==
In early June 1863, the ''Bessie'' arrived in Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. The Sinclairs found the land wild and undeveloped with thick forests, making the effort required to clear land for agriculture close to impossible with their limited labor and resources. Eliza set her sights on California, but an acquaintance named Henry Rhodes recommended that they avoid the rough oceans during the winter as it would make anchorage difficult. Rhodes suggested that they sail to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) instead, since his brother lived in Honolulu. The Sinclairs agreed, and they boarded the ''Bessie'' one last time.<ref name="Tabrah 1987">{{Cite book |last=Tabrah |first=Ruth M. |author-link=Ruth Tabrah |url=http://archive.org/details/niihaulasthawaii0000tabr |title=Niʻihau, the Last Hawaiian Island |date=1987 |publisher=Press Pacifica |others= |isbn=978-0-916630-59-1 |location=Kailua, Hawaii |pages=97–98}}</ref>
==Hawaii==
At the age of 63 years, Eliza led 13 members of her family to Hawaii, arriving in Honolulu Harbor on 17 September 1863 on the vessel ''Bessie''<ref name="Joesting_1984"/>{{rp|page=189}}captained by her son-in-law, Thomas Gay.<ref name="Daws"/> The 300-ton barque arrived fully provisioned, with Merino sheep, one cow, hay, grain, chickens, a grand piano, books, and clothing. Eliza was considered a "chiefess" by the native Hawaiians she and her family employed on the island of Niʻihau and in Makaweli on Kauaʻi.<ref name="Joesting_1984"/>{{rp|page=144}}
In 1885, her niece Isabella McHutcheson Sinclair, who married Eliza's son Francis, authored and illustrated ''Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands''<ref name="Hawaiian_flora1885">{{cite book|last1=Sinclair|first1=Isabella|author-link=Isabella McHutcheson Sinclair|title=Indigenous flowers of the Hawaiian Islands|date=1885|publisher=Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington|location=London|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/229054|access-date=1 August 2017}}</ref> which has become an important record of the Hawaiian flora. The illustrations are of plants from Kauaʻi and Niʻihau islands.
== Descendants == Her descendants continue to run the island of Ni'ihau under their private ownership.{{Sinclair-Robinson family tree}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading==
*Bird, Isabella L. 1875. ''[https://archive.org/details/hawaiianarchipe01birdgoog The Hawaiian Archipelago: Six Months Among the Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, and Volcanoes of the Sandwich Islands]''. London: John Murray. *Holt, Ida Elizabeth Knudsen Von and Harold St. John. 2005. ''Stories of Long Ago: Niihau, Kauai, Oahu''. Revised ed. N.p.: Daughters of Hawaii. {{ISBN|0-938851-02-0}}. *Keale, Sr. Moses, and Rerioterai Tava. 1990. ''Niihau: The Traditions of an Hawaiian Island''. Honolulu: Mutual Pub Co. {{ISBN|0-935180-80-X}}. *Laracy, Hugh. 2001. The Sinclairs of Pigeon Bay and the Romantic 'Prehistory' of the Robinsons of Niihau. ''Journal of Pacific History'' 36, no. 2 (September): 183–199. {{JSTOR|25169538}} {{Subscription required}} *Wichman, Juliet Rice, and Harold St. John. 1994. ''A Chronicle and Flora of Niihau''. Lawai: University of Hawaii Press. {{ISBN|0-915809-14-1}}.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Elizabeth}} Category:1800 births Category:1892 deaths Category:19th-century New Zealand farmers Category:19th-century New Zealand women farmers Category:Scottish emigrants to New Zealand Category:New Zealand horticulturists Category:Niihau Category:Ranchers from Hawaii Category:Scottish Calvinist and Reformed Christians Category:People from Kauai Category:British expatriates in the Hawaiian Kingdom Category:19th-century British farmers Category:Scottish emigrants to pre-Confederation British Columbia Category:Ranchers from the Kingdom of Hawaii