John Young (c. 1742 – 17 December 1835) was a British subject who became an important military advisor to Kamehameha I during the formation of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

He was left behind by Simon Metcalfe, captain of the American ship Eleanora, and along with a Welshman Isaac Davis, and became a friend and advisor to Kamehameha.

Young brought knowledge of naval and land battle strategies to Kamehameha, and became a strong voice on affairs of state for the Hawaiian Kingdom.

[6] Young served as boatswain on the Eleanora, an American ship captained by Simon Metcalfe, engaged in the maritime fur trade between the Pacific Northwest and China.

He is credited with firing the shot that put an end to Kaʻiana, who had seceded from the invading army en route and joined Kalanikūpule, king of Oʻahu and Maui.

Beginning about 1800 or 1802, he was appointed as the Royal Governor of Hawaii island after chief Mokuhia, whom Kamehameha had picked, was murdered by a rival.

[11] Young built the first European-style house on the island of Hawaiʻi, and its ruins are still to be seen at the Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site near the town of Kawaihae.

[12] Lucy Goodale Thurston, in her story of her life as a missionary in Hawaii, described Young: He had long been a rare example in that degenerate age, of building a hedge about his family and standing in the gap thereof.

[14] After the wars, Young returned to Kawaihae on the Big Island and expanded his compound, including building a small European-style fort.

Another son was Robert Young who was born in 1796, sent to school in America, fought for the American side in the War of 1812 and disappeared.

John Kalaipaihala Young Jr. known as Keoni Ana married Alapai and would become one of the only two males to hold the title of Kuhina Nui.

Fear of being murdered and having his body treated for burial in the old traditions, with the chiefs taking his bones to make icons or fishhooks, plagued his painful days and nights.

Two weeks after his arrival on Oahu, Young died at Rooke House in Honolulu on 17 December 1835, at the age of 93 after living in Hawaiʻi for 46 years.

He was interred in the cemetery adjacent to the little coral mausoleum, called Pohukaina, on the Iolani Palace ground, on 18 December 1835.