Francis Brinkley


Francis Brinkley was an Irish newspaper owner, editor and scholar who resided in Meiji period Japan for overyears, where he was the author of numerous books on Japanese culture, art and architecture, and an EnglishJapanese Dictionary. He was also known as Frank Brinkley or as Captain Francis Brinkley, and was the great uncle of Cyril Connolly.

In 1841, Frank Brinkley was born at Parsonstown House, Co. Meath, the thirteenth and youngest child of Matthew Brinkley J.P., of Parsonstown, and his wife Harriet Graves . His paternal grandfather, John Brinkley, was the last Bishop of Cloyne and the first Royal Astronomer of Ireland, while his maternal grandfather, Richard Graves, was also a Senior Fellow of Trinity College and the Dean of Ardagh. One of Brinkleys sisters, Jane Vernon of Clontarf Castle, was the grandmother of Cyril Connolly. Another sister, Anna, became the Dowager Countess of Kingston after the death of her first husband, James King, 5th Earl of Kingston, and was the last person to live at Mitchelstown Castle. Through his mothers family Brinkley was related to Richard Francis Burton, a distinguished linguist who shared Brinkleys passion for foreign culture.

Source: Wikipedia


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