Early Life
In 1841, Frank Brinkley was born at Parsonstown House, Co. Meath, the thirteenth and youngest child of Matthew Brinkley (1797–1855) J.P., of Parsonstown, and his wife Harriet Graves (1800–1855). 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 Brinkley's sisters, Jane (Brinkley) 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 mother's family Brinkley was related to Richard Francis Burton, a distinguished linguist who shared Brinkley's passion for 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, 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 Aide-de-camp 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.
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