Francis Brinkley

Captain Francis Brinkley (30 December 1841-12 October 1912 ["Who's Who 1914", p. xxi] ) was an Anglo-Irish journalist and scholar who resided in Meiji period Japan for over 40 years. He was also known as Frank Brinkley.

Early life

In 1841, Frank Brinkley was born in Leinster, Ireland, the thirteenth child of Matthew Brinkley (1797-1855) J.P., of Parsonstown House, Lobinstown, Co. Meath, by his wife Harriet ("née" Graves) ["Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland", 1912, p.71] . His paternal grandfather, John Brinkley, was the Bishop of Cloyne and the first Astronomer Royal for Ireland, while his maternal grandfather, Richard Graves, was a Senior Fellow of Trinity College and the Dean of Ardagh. Through his mother's family he was related to Richard Francis Burton, a distinguished linguist who shared Brinkley's passion for embracing foreign culture.

Brinkley went to Royal School Dungannon before entering Trinity College, where he received the highest records in mathematics and classics. After graduating he chose upon a military career and was subsequently accepted at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, becoming an Artillery Officer. In this capacity his cousin, Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell the 6th Governor of Hong Kong (1866-1872), invited him out to the east to serve as his A.D.C. and Adjutant.

In 1866, on his way to Hong Kong, Brinkley visited Nagasaki and witnessed a duel between two samurai warriors. Once the victor had slain his opponent he immediately covered him in his haori, and 'knelt down with hands clasped in prayer'. It is said that Brinkley was so impressed by the conduct of the Japanese warrior that this enticed him to live in Japan permanently.

Life in Japan

In 1867 Captain Brinkley returned to Japan, never again to return home. Attached to the British-Japanese Legation, and still an officer in the Royal Artillery, he was assistant attache to the Japanese Embassy. He resigned his commission in 1871 to take up the post of foreign advisor to the new Meiji government, and taught artillery techniques to the new Imperial Japanese Navy at the Naval Gunnery School. He mastered the Japanese language soon after his arrival, and both spoke and wrote it well.

In 1878 he was invited to teach mathematics at the Imperial College of Engineering, which later became part of Tokyo Imperial University, remaining in this post for two and a half years.

In the same year he married Tanaka Yasuko, a daughter of a "samurai" from the Mito clan. Technically, the marriage was illegal under Japanese law, but Brinkley managed to legalise it by appealing to the British judiciary, with the help of some influential friends. They were the parents of two daughters and a son, Jack Ronald Brinkley (1887-1964), who also contibuted greatly to Japanese culture and education.

In 1881 until his death he owned and edited the "Japan Mail" newspaper (later merged with the "Japan Times)", receiving financial support from the Japanese government and consequently maintaining a pro-Japanese stance. After the Sino-Japanese War he became the Tokyo-based correspondent for "The Times" of London, and gained fame for his dispatches during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. He was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure by Emperor Meiji for his contributions to better Anglo-Japanese relations. He was also an adviser to the Nippon Yusen Kaisha shipping lines.

His last dispatch to "The Times" was written from his deathbed in 1912, reporting on the on the "seppuku" of the General following the emperors death. Emperor Showa of the Meiji had recently died and to show his fealty to the deceased emperor, General Nogi Maresuke together with his wife committed hara-kiri.

Private Life

Frank Brinkley had many hobbies which included gardening, collecting fine Japanese art and pottery, cricket, tennis, horse riding and hunting. Part of his significant collection of art and pottery was donated to various museums around the world, but the most part was reduced to rubble and ash after the Great Earthquake and the World War.

He wrote books for English beginners interested in the Japanese language, and his grammar books and English-Japanese Dictionary (compiled with Fumio Nanjo and Yukichika Iwasaki) were regarded as the definitive books on the subject for those studying English in the latter half of the Meiji period.

He wrote much on Japanese history and fine art. His book 'A History of the Japanese People', which was published after his death by the London Times in 1915, covered Japanese history, fine arts and literature from the origins of the Japanese race up until the latter half of the Meiji period.

Death

In 1912, one month after Nogi's death, at the age of 71, Francis Brinkley died. At his funeral, the mourners included the Speaker of the House of Peers, Tokugawa Iesato, the Minister of the Navy Saito Makoto, and the Foreign Minister Uchida Kosai. He is buried in the foreign section of the Aoyama Reien cemetery in central Tokyo.

After his death Ernest Satow wrote of Brinkley to Frederick Victor Dickins on 21 November 1912: "I have not seen any fuller memoir of Brinkley than what appeared in the “Times”. As you perhaps know I did not trust him. Who wrote the “Times” notice I cannot imagine. As you say, it was the work of an ignorant person." [Satow Papers, PRO 30/33 11/7, quoted in Ian Ruxton [ed.] , "Sir Ernest Satow's Private Letters to W.G. Aston and F.V. Dickins", Lulu.com, 2008, p. 294 ]

On his death bed Frank Brinkley had told his son, Jack, of an episode that occurred during the Russo-Japanese War. After the Japanese had defeated the Russians at Hoten, the Chief of the General Staff, Gentaro Kodama, rushed home in secret to urge the Japanese Government to conclude a treaty with Russia. At the time it was a hugely consequential secret and yet he confided this national secret to Brinkley, the foreign correspendent of the London Times, demonstrating the utmost confidence in which the Chief of the General Staff held Brinkley.

Publications

His published works include:
* "Japan" (1901)
* "Japan and China" (1903)
* "A History of the Japanese people"(1915)
* "Unabridged Japanese-English Dictionary'
* various articles on Japan in encyclopedias.

ee also

* Ninzo Matsumura

Notes

References

* Hoare, James E. (1999). "Captain Francis Brinkley (1841-1912): Yatoi, Scholar and Apologist" in "Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits," Vol. III (edited by James E. Hoare). London: , Japan Library, 1999. ISBN 1-873410-89-1

External links

* [http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~matu-emk/brinkle.html Francis Brinkley]