The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-02-23
THE LATE w. L. GREEN.

\ \
The photograph was taken when he
was AZ years of age.
William Lowthian Green was by
profession a merchant. His family for
two generations had been engaged in
commercial pursuits in the north OF
England. The mechanical and scien-
tifc prOpensities he developed very
early may nevertheless have been in
part hereditary.
William Lowthian Green was born
in Doughty street, London, September
18th, 1879. The family afterwards re-
moved to small property called
Woodfeld, near Swinton. This last
remnant of the old potter's family be-
longings was sold about the year 1874
to railway company by w. l.. Green
himself. who Enthusiastically invest
ed the proceeds In mechanical toy, a
screw steamer. His father, who in the
later years OF his life had established
commercial house in Liverpool, was
then dead. In that city William Green
received his early education, which
was completed at King Williams Col
lege in the Isle of Man.
There. at one of the annual college
examinations, curiously enough to
those who knew his apparently mat
ter-of-fact disposition, he took the
prize for English poem, the subject be-
ing Castle Ruthen," a Danish ruin in
the neighborhood. Though full OF
imagination. his mind seemed forcibly
bent by the very love of the
Orizing towards those mechanical and
practical studies by means of which
he was aware he would eventually
have to fortify his views. In his youth
speculative geology, volcanic agencies
and cOsmogonies were the rage. AS
a mere boy these things had occupied
his thoughts.
The accident of his birth and his
family interests threw him into mer-
camille pursuits, with which he never
had any real sympathy; still he en-
deavored to follow them Loyalty. He
entered a commercial firm in Liver
pool which still bore his deceased faith
er's name. In its employ he sailed to
Buenos Ayres. He rode the conyen-
tional ride over the Pampas to Men
doza and crossed the Andes into Chile
by the usual route. the Aspallata pass.
From Valparaiso he took ship to Ii
ma, where he remained some time In
the exercise of his duties In a mer-
chants Office.
1t was on his return to Liverpool,
about 1843, that, already wearied with
the drudgery of business, he conceived
the notion of building a screw steam
or and trying his luck as mercantile
free lance or Spanish Adelantado on
the coast of South America, between
Rio Grande do Sui and the Rio lie la
Plata. His little craft, the "Flecha,"
was the first screw steamer that had
reached those regions.
The adventure-like most others
somewhat premature in idea-was I'M
successful; yet soon after this failure
any position he might have desired to
hold In large mercantile house, with
branches In four different parts of
South America, was placed at his dis
posal. He preferred to throw In his
lot with the miscellaneous crowd that
In 1848 made rush to California.
Some OF his companions, including a
relative OF his own, were fortunate,
and In due time amassed wealth.
Green himself was soon reduced to ex-
tremities. and chose to work his pas
sage before the mast In small trad
Ing vessel from San Francisco to Ho-
nolulu. The tradition Is that his SUI
periority was quickly recognized on
board and that he gave material assist
ance In navigating the ship.
Those who remember w. L. Green
will have no hesitation In deciding that
the gold of California was a trlfiing
matter In his mind and that the real
attractions which had originally lured
him westward were the volcanoes of
Hawaii. lie was then puzzling his
head over theories which not ten
years later took an early shape In an
article In the Edinburgh New Philo.
sophical Journal. on the outline OF the
southern extTemities of the continents
OF the globe.
On his arrival at Honolulu he had