Rose C. Davison

Davison was born on September 22, 1868, in Honolulu, to American pharmacist Benoni Richmond Davison and British-Hawaiian chiefess Mary Jane Kekulani Fayerweather, the granddaughter of the British Captain George Charles Beckley and Ahia, a distant relation of the reigning House of Kamehameha. Her siblings included William Compton Malulani, Emma Ahuena, Henry Fayerweather, and Marie Hope Kekulani. Her father died in 1875 and her mother later remarried to photographer A. A. Montano in 1877.

She was initially educated at St. Andrew's Priory School and Fort Street School and later graduated from Oahu College (the modern day Punahou School). After finishing school, Davison worked as a schoolteacher and became the first English language instructor at the government school in the Mānoa Valley in 1889. She later worked as a governmental school agent and was appointed as assistant secretary of the Hawaii Territorial Board of Education under the leadership of Alatau T. Atkinson. During the 1900 United States Census, she assisted Atkinson who was serving as census superintendent.

In 1901, Davison was appointed by the Department of Public Instruction to head a delegation of Hawaiian educators who attended the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. She was charged with assembling an educational exhibit showcasing the products of the students of the islands including school assignments, industrial products and sewing. The intents of the exhibit was to "surprise the American population which yet believes that Hawaii is a land of cannibals". Davison and her retinue of part-Hawaiian ladies including Mapuana Smith and Miss Ordway became representatives of "Kanaka civility" in contrast to the hula dancing troupes which have been the main Hawaiian attractions in past international exhibitions.

Rose C. Davison leading a troupe of pāʻū riders

Davison was actively involved in philanthropy and the betterment of ill-treated children and animals. Especially devoted to the welfare of dogs and horses from her youth, she was considered "one of the finest horsewoman in the Islands" and helped to arrange pāʻū riders in floral parades. She became involved with the Hawaii Humane Society and received a police commission and appointment in 1907 (or 1909) as humane officer by Sheriff Curtis P. Iaukea. Her duties included inspecting the barns and stables of the island to ensure compliance with the humane society. She also worked to protect children, especially young girls, taking them from abusive families and placing them in foster care or into industrial schools. She would personally go to the lowly parts of town at night to save the children in these areas. It was noted, "Hardly a school child in the country, whether white or brown but knew Miss Davison and the boys always took off their hats to her as she passed them."

Rose C. Davison

Davison retired from her position as special officer with the Hawaii Humane Society in 1912 due to her illness. A trip to California with her sister Emma did little to improve her health and she returned to Honolulu a few weeks before her death. Two weeks before her death, she was strong enough to visit and inspect stables and barns on Oahu. She fell into a coma and died at her home in the Mānoa Valley, on May 26, 1913. Following a funeral at the Central Union Church, her cremated remains were buried directly over her father's grave at Oahu Cemetery.

Her obituary in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin noted:

Few women will be mourned as she is mourned by this community. Rich and poor, high and low, great and small,—her friends were legion. She was a splendid type of woman, an honor to her Hawaiian-American blood, an honor to woman-kind. Her work as a humane officer was effective, quiet, broad, earnest. Her personality was a rare combination of the alertly vigorous and the womanly sympathetic.