Early Life
Jack Keane was born in the port town of Whitby, the son of an Irish parson, The Reverend Dr. William Keane. He was the eldest of five. His father died in 1873, when Keane was only 19 years old.
In his book On Blue-water, Keane tells us that he attended "a large and well-known public school". It is not know which school, although it is known that it was not Charterhouse, which both his father and younger brother Robert attended. He was soon expelled for breaking bounds; an event which seems to have determined him to "be off on my own account".
Keane claims to have run away to sea, but the evidence suggests that at the age of twelve he was put onto a collier brig by his father, to cool his temper and curb his bad behaviour. Upon his return he was given into the hands of a private tutor, an elderly parson in a remote part of the East Riding of Yorkshire. This had little effect on the young Keane, who soon took up with local poachers and huntsmen.
Keane's whereabouts throughout his early life are not entirely known, but in 1868, at the age of fourteen, he was living with wealthy relatives in Madras.
Read more about this topic: John Fryer Thomas Keane
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