Mansfield Parkyns

Mansfield Parkyns
Mansfield Parkyns photographed by Camille Silvy in 1861
Born	(1823-02-16)16 February 1823 Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, England
Died	12 January 1894(1894-01-12) (aged 70)
Occupation	Explorer, travel writer
Language	English
Nationality	English
Genre	Travel writing
Notable works	Life in Abyssinia

Mansfield Parkyns (16 February 1823 – 12 January 1894) was an English traveller, known for his travel book Life in Abyssinia: being notes collected during three years' residence and travels in that country (1853). In this book he described his experiences and observations during three years (1843–1846) travels in Abyssinia, the modern territories of Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Parkyns was born at Ruddington, Nottinghamshire, where his family was well known in local affairs. His mother Charlotte-Mary (née Smith) was from a rising commercial class, while his father Thomas Boultbee Parkyns was from the landed gentry, a younger son of Sir Thomas Parkyns, 3rd Baronet of Bunny Hall. In 1850, Mansfield's older brother Thomas inherited the Parkyns baronetcy from their first cousin, the childless 2nd Baron Rancliffe.

As a young boy Parkyns loved wildlife. He also had a formal education to help him develop his talents drawing and painting. In 1833, when Parkyns was only ten years old, his father died. Six months later he was parted from Ruddington to the Leicestershire countryside, where he attended a grammar school at Uppingham in Rutland; however there he was not for a long time because after his mother remarried, he was sent to be educated at Woolwich and at Trinity College, Cambridge. At college Parkyns was very interested in mathematics and he also enjoyed learning Latin. In 1838,when Parkyns was at the age of fifteen, his mother died as well. Later Parkyns was obliged to leave the college for some unknown reasons. He did not finish his education but in 1842, when Parkyns was nineteenth years old, he decided to leave England and start travelling. Parkyns did not tell about his plans to anyone, hence for a long time people did not have any information about him and he was given up for lost.

The exact time and date when Parkyns made a decision to travel and search for the sources of the White Nile and to cross Africa from the Red sea to the Atlantic is not known. As his motives, Parkyns mentioned his interest to visit new lands and study natural history. Particularly, he was interested in finding and collecting specimens of outlandish birds, animals and insects. In total Parkyns spent nine years travelling. After Parkyns left England, he visited Switzerland and Italy, then he arrived in Greece and decided to go to the Levant. In Syra, the principal island of the Cyclades, Parkyns met Richard Monckton Milnes who just like Parkyns was also planning from there go on to Istanbul and after that visit Egypt. Milnes invited Parkyns to accompany him, hence the first eighteenth months of his travels, Parkyns travelled in Europe and Asia Minor. In December 1842 both travellers arrived in Egypt. On 5 March 1843 Parkyns left Cairo alone on a journey of exploration into Abyssinia where he stayed among the Abyssinians for more than three years and not only observed their lives but also adopted their dress and customs. The rest of travelling he did in various parts of Nubia, Kordofa, and Egypt. Eventually he did not cross Africa and did not find sources of the White Nile but decided to stay in Abyssinia. During his travels there, Parkyns had a journal where he took notes which some time later became basis of his book.