An English Entrepreneur in the Hawaiian Islands - The Life and Times of John Kidwell,1849-1922

Aug 30, 2026

The study traces John Kidwell’s life from his birth near Barnstaple to his emigration and eventual role in shaping the Hawaiian pineapple canning industry. It situates his personal decisions within nineteenth-century British migration patterns and the Hawaiian Islands’ rapid shift toward a market economy driven by land reform, plantation monoculture, and demographic change. The account follows his nursery establishment in Honolulu, his experiments to improve pineapple quality, and the early move toward commercial canning supported by collaboration and evolving market needs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

John Kidwell’s Background and Emigration

Early life and limited childhood knowledge

Apprenticeship and move to the United States

Establishing a Nursery in Honolulu

Hawaii’s market economy and demographic transformation

Pineapple supply challenges and initial cultivation

Selecting Varieties and Improving Quality

Discovering Smooth Cayenne and expanding trials

Forcing plants and propagation methods

Moving Toward Pineapple Canning

Market enlargement and experimental canning

RICHARD A.HAWKINS # An English Entrepreneur in the Hawaiian Islands:The Life and Times of John Kidwell,1849-1922 DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY hundreds of thousands ofBritish people emigrated to the United States.Among them weremany highly successful entrepreneurs.A classic example was AndrewCarnegie,who became a millionaire iron and steel tycoon.¹For everyCarnegie,however,there were hundreds of what Charlotte Ericksonhas described as "invisible immigrants."Native English speakersassimilated into the American population much more quickly thanmany of their counterparts from continental Europe.2 Many Britishentrepreneurs abroad,although they did not become millionaires,were nonetheless successful.John Kidwell,the father of the Hawaiianpineapple canning industry,was one of them. John Kidwell was born near Barnstaple in the north Devonshirevillage of Marwood on 7January 1849,the illegitimate son of MaryAnn Kidwell.His father is unknown.3 His mother was probably adomestic servant.4 Very little is known about Kidwell's childhood.Not surprisingly,perhaps,he chose not to mention his parents in anautobiographical interview he gave shortly before his death.All hewould say about his childhood was that it was a hard but not unhappyone.It is also probably significant that he used his retirement yearsto live out a second childhood. Dr.Richard A.Hawkins is senior lecturer in economics at the University of Wolverhamp-ton,England,and is the author ofa number ofarticles on the history ofthe pineapple can-ning industry. ## 128 THE HAWAIIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY In 1864,at the age of fifteen,Kidwell left his Devonshire hometo be apprenticed to a distant cousin and nurseryman in London.According to Kidwell,his cousin was a hard taskmaster.This mayexplain why he left the employ of his cousin in 1872 and emigratedto the United States.Kidwell later claimed to have established himselfas a nurseryman in San Francisco two years later in 1874.5 However,he is listed in the 1879-1882 San Francisco city directories as a gar-dener.In the 188o and 1881 directories he is listed as an employee ofJohn H.Sievers.6 Kidwell met many visitors from the Hawaiian Islandswho came to his nursery to purchase flowers,shrubs,and plants non-indigenous to the Islands.Many of his best customers from the Islandsrepeatedly pointed out the advantages that might arise from the estab-lishment of a nursery in Honolulu.So eventually,with letters of intro-duction to many of the more influential people on the island ofO‘ahu,he arrived in Honolulu in 1882 and established a nursery.7 At the time of Kidwell's arrival,the Hawaiian Islands had nearlycompleted the transformation to a market economy.Partly as a resultof land reform in the mid-nineteenth century,native Hawaiian sub-sistence agriculture was in terminal decline.It was rapidly beingreplaced by commercial agriculture in the form of sugar cane plan-tation monoculture.The transformation of the economy was alsoaccompanied by demographic transformation.For various reasons,the native Hawaiian population was also in decline.Some of thedemographic decline had been counterbalanced by European andAmerican immigration.Indeed,commercial agriculture in the Islandswas dominated by these immigrants,who also recruited Asian labor-ers to work on their sugar plantations.In the early 188os the Islandswere nominally still under a native Hawaiian monarchy,government,and legislature,but in practice the monarchy was greatly influencedby white advisers and administrators.Furthermore,the economicpower of the sugar planters meant that the Hawaiian government wasdependent upon them for its revenues.8 Although sugar dominated the Hawaiian economy,there was agreat demand at this time for fresh Hawaiian pineapples in SanFrancisco.They were picked green by Charles Hensen on the islandof Hawai'i and transshipped through Honolulu to San Francisco.These pineapples grew wild and were of extremely poor quality.So with a view to avoiding the need to tra

FAQs

Who was John Kidwell and why is he important to Hawaiian pineapple canning?

John Kidwell is presented as the father of the Hawaiian pineapple canning industry. His work in improving pineapple cultivation and later experimenting with canning helped create the foundation for commercial production.

How did Kidwell’s early life influence his later career choices?

The text emphasizes how little is known about Kidwell’s childhood, while noting he described it as hard but not unhappy. It also highlights that he later effectively used retirement years to “live out a second childhood,” suggesting a distinct personal trajectory.

What role did variety selection play in Kidwell’s efforts?

Kidwell searched for higher-quality plants after initial cultivation produced poor fruit. By ordering and testing varieties—including Smooth Cayenne, which produced the best results—he selected a strain for large-scale commercial propagation.

Aug 30, 2026

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