Starkey, Janion, & Co. was a trading company founded in
Liverpool in April 1845 by Englishmen James and John Starkey and Robert Cheshyre Janion. Janion arrived in
Honolulu in August, selling the first boat-load of merchandise. Janion acquired a building in a prime location on the
Honolulu Harbor after the firm of
Ladd & Co. went out of business, and some of the last undeveloped land that was part of the claim of former British
Consul Richard Charlton. The Starkey brothers bought more goods in England, where they were traded with Hawaiian exports and gold. After the
California Gold Rush their business soon expanded to include their own fleet of ships, and selling insurance as the local agent for
Lloyd's of London. After Davies died in 1898, Francis Mills Swanzy became managing director and T. Clive Davies (son of Theo) as board member. In 1917 T. Clive Davies and Ernest Hay Wodehouse were named co-managing directors, but Davies died the same day. A new headquarters building built in 1921 served through the 1960s when a 32-story Davies Pacific Center was built at 841 Bishop Street. In 1928 the company opened a
Manila branch and expanded with sugarcane plantations in the
Philippines. John E. Russell led the company until the 1950s. Geoffrey C. Davies (T. Clive's son) became chairman, followed by Gerald M. Wilkinson. James H. Tabor, Harold E. Weidig, and Milton Pickup then served as presidents. In 1967
Dillingham Corp. made a failed takeover attempt. Hamakua Sugar filed for bankruptcy just 8 years later in 1992 and was liquidated. Jardine then diversified its holdings, buying the franchises in
Hawaii for restaurants such as
Pizza Hut and
Taco Bell and auto marques such as
Mercedes-Benz and
Jaguar. Starting in 2003, Jardine gradually sold its various holdings in the islands. Theo H. Davies (Manila), founded in 1928, currently exists as a separate holding company. JTH Davies, under the control of Philippine businessman Eusebio Tanco, who is involved in education, insurance, shipping and overseas job placement businesses in Manila and other locations in the Philippines. ==See also==