Francis Funk or Franz Funk () was a lawyer, politician, sheriff and military officer of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He held the rank of Major and served as the ''Akukana Kenela'' or Adjutant General of the Hawaiian Army during the reign of King Kamehameha III.

Life and career

Prior to 1851, he worked as a lawyer and was a deputy sheriff during the 1840s. According to later writings, he was a former

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

soldier.; ; ; In the election of 1851, when direct suffrage was first established, he was elected a member of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the

legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii The Legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom () was the bicameral (later unicameral) legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom. A royal legislature was first provided by the 1840 Constitution and the 1852 Constitution was the first to use the term Legislat ...

, and sat in the legislative sessions of 1851, 1852, and 1853. From 1851 to 1852, he served as Sheriff of the islands of Kauai and later

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

. In July 1853, he was mistakenly referred to as the United States Consul at

by a resident of Benicia, California. Funk joined the service of the Hawaiian military during the end of the reign of Kamehameha III when it was going under reform by his heir-apparent, Prince Alexander Liholiho, who would succeed as King

Kamehameha IV Kamehameha IV (Alekanetero ʻIolani Kalanikualiholiho Maka o ʻIouli Kūnuiākea o Kūkāʻilimoku; anglicized as Alexander Liholiho) (February 9, 1834 – November 30, 1863), reigned as the fourth monarch of Hawaii under the title ''Ke Aliʻi ...

in 1855. On July 13, 1853, he was appointed by the King as a Major of Infantry and assigned the duties of ''Akukana Kenela'', or Adjutant General to the Forces of the Hawaiian Islands by Prince Liholiho, who was the Lieutenant Commander at this time. Major Funk was placed in charge of all military accounts for the kingdom and held this post until John William Elliott Maikai was appointed as his successor in 1854.; ; One of his protégés during this period was the future King

Kalākaua Kalākaua (David Laʻamea Kamananakapu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua; November 16, 1836 – January 20, 1891), sometimes called The Merrie Monarch, was the last king and penultimate monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, ...

who received his first military training when he was fourteen years old under Captain Funk and later served as the military secretary to his successor Major Maikai. Letters between Major Funk and Prince Liholiho on military matters are preserved in the Hawaii State Archives. In John William Holmes' article "A Case of Eye Troubles", published in the '' Hawaiian Journal of History'', it was stated that Funk had intermittent eye troubles, possibly ocular syphilis, and received medical treatments from

Robert Crichton Wyllie Robert Crichton Wyllie (October 13, 1798 – October 19, 1865) was a Scottish physician and businessman. He served for twenty years as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Early life Wyllie was born October 13, 1798, in an area c ...

. Holmes noted: "Francis Funk, had a peripatetic and spotty career in the islands; one is tempted to label this specimen a typical adventurer whose constitution contained more brass than gold; certainly he was plunged, periodically, into difficulties not entirely fortuitous."

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Funk, Francis Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Hawaiian Kingdom military officers Hawaiian Kingdom politicians Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom House of Representatives Hawaii lawyers Adjutants General of the Hawaiian Kingdom People from the Kingdom of Prussia Hawaii sheriffs German emigrants to the Hawaiian Kingdom