Francis Brinkley - Death

Death

In 1912, at the age of 71 and one month after General Nogi's death, Francis Brinkley died. At his funeral, the mourners included the Speaker of the House of Peers, Iesato Tokugawa, the Minister of the Navy Makoto Saito, and the Foreign Minister Kosai Uchida. 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."

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 the Battle of Mukden, the Chief of the General Staff, Gentarō 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 Times, demonstrating the utmost confidence in which the Chief of the General Staff held Brinkley.