In 1868, Frank Toovey Lake, a young British
Midshipman, died while serving with the Royal Navy and was interred on the island
of Hiroshima in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan.

Up until recently Lake’s grave on Hiroshima had been identified only
by his family name ‘Lake,’ and he was described as an English officer who died while
serving on the Royal Navy survey ship, HMS Sylvia. However no further
information on Lake could be found until new research showed that in one important
detail these facts were wrong: namely that the ship had been incorrectly
identified as HMS Sylvia when in fact he died on HMS Manilla. From knowing
this, it has now been possible to give the young officer his full name, Frank
Toovey Lake, and to build an understanding of his life.

Since the burial the islanders have both maintained and improved
the grave until the present day. This led to admiration among the late-19th
century British community in Japan (including prominent members such as Sir Ernest
Satow and Thomas Glover), and a flurry of newspaper articles appeared around
the world in 1899 recounting the story and praising the conscientiousness of
the local people. Since then the grave’s story has made only sporadic appearances
in the media but continues to be celebrated locally.

This grave is far from unique: the graves of many foreigners can
be found in Japan, most within the foreign cemeteries in cities such as Tokyo,
Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki and to whose numbers we can add those of souls buried
at sea within Japan’s waters. But there are at least two good reasons to
celebrate its continued existence. First, in the mid-19th century as Japan
became more accessible to the outside world this created, at least initially, mutual
distrust between foreigners and Japanese; these newcomers were viewed as
barbarians and intruders (albeit at times justifiably), and this was a period
when some were slain and their vessels fired upon. So without suggesting that widespread
conflict existed - because it didn’t - nonetheless it is notable that during
this period a group of villagers decided to care for and not destroy the grave,
and that today this grave is as well tended as ever. Second, at one time Lake’s
death was commemorated on a monument in the churchyard of the village where he
was born. A few years ago that monument - along with other Toovey graves - was
swept away, the graveyard cleared for ease of maintenance, and all trace of
Frank Toovey Lake has now gone.

This story also touches on other aspects of Japan and Britain’s 19^th
century history not least the display of typical contradictory characteristics
of Pax Britannica in the Inland Sea: the rapid deployment of the Royal Navy
into Japan’s territorial waters yet undertaking surveying and other benign
operations; the threat and occasional use of gunboat diplomacy, and at times an
arrogance towards the country yet countered by great affection for the place
and its people by some - or many -individuals. The story also involves
personalities such as Richard Henry Brunton, T B Glover and the British
diplomat Ernest Satow who took important roles in helping Japan develop. In
short, the story of Lake and his grave is more than the story of an individual
and a granite monument.