1. Mansfield Harry Isham Parkyns was an English traveller, known for his travel book Life in Abyssinia: being notes collected during three years' residence and travels in that country.
23 Facts About Mansfield Parkyns
1. 2.
Six months later he left Ruddington to attend Uppingham School in Rutland; after a short time, his mother remarried, and Parkyns was sent to be educated at Woolwich, then admitted a pensioner at Trinity College, Cambridge.
3.
At college Mansfield Parkyns was very interested in mathematics and he enjoyed learning Latin.
4.
Mansfield Parkyns did not take a degree, and in 1842, aged nineteen, he decided to leave England and start travelling, going firstly to Constantinople.
5.
Mansfield Parkyns did not tell anyone about his plans, hence for a long time people did not have any information about his whereabouts or status, and he was given up for lost.
6.
On 5 March 1843 Mansfield Parkyns left Cairo alone, bound for Abyssinia.
7.
Mansfield Parkyns stayed for over three years, adopting local dress and customs.
8.
Mansfield Parkyns abandoned plans to follow the White Nile, and instead travelled in parts of Nubia, Kordofa, and Egypt.
9.
Mansfield Parkyns kept a journal which later became the basis of his book.
10.
The second edition of Mansfield Parkyns' book was published in 1868.
11.
In short, Mansfield Parkyns described the political changes which had occurred after he left the country.
12.
Mansfield Parkyns was hoping to offer the Victorian reader "a tolerably accurate idea of Abyssinia and Abyssinians".
13.
The first volume describes the journey from the coast to the capital and Mansfield Parkyns's visit to the northern provinces, encounters with others, learning local languages and gaining new experiences.
14.
In total there are 33 illustrations which Mansfield Parkyns drew himself by using watercolors.
15.
Mansfield Parkyns wrote that in this book he has described what he witnessed and experienced during his stay in Abyssinia.
16.
Mansfield Parkyns was particularly interested in learning more about the Abyssinian customs but he enjoyed exploring more about natural history.
17.
Mansfield Parkyns especially liked to observe various birds that he had never seen before in Europe.
18.
Mansfield Parkyns believed that by identifying himself with the natives, he could attain the best results, thus, as he left Massawa, he decided that he would not try to preserve any European comforts.
19.
Mansfield Parkyns came back to England in 1852 and settled down in Nottinghamshire, where he purchased an estate, Woodborough Hall.
20.
Mansfield Parkyns served in the Sherwood Foresters militia, and subsequently became lieutenant-colonel of the Nottinghamshire Rifle Volunteers.
21.
Mansfield Parkyns presented Woodborough Church with "handsome oak stalls, carved by himself".
22.
In 1884 Mansfield Parkyns retired to Woodborough, where he farmed and established a garden.
23.
Mansfield Parkyns died on 12 January 1894, and was buried in Woodborough church with his wife.