Education

Gubbins attended Harrow School

Harrow School

Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...

 and would have gone on to Cambridge University

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, had family finances allowed.

Career

Gubbins was appointed a student interpreter in the British Japan Consular Service

British Japan Consular Service

Britain had a functioning consular service in Japan from 1859 after the signing of the 1858 Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce between James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and the Tokugawa Shogunate until 1941 when war was declared by Britain on Japan as the ally of the United States after the...

 in 1871; English Secretary to the Conference at Tokyo for the Revision of the Treaties, after Ernest Satow left Japan in 1883; and on June 1, 1889, became Japanese Secretary at Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. He was employed in London at the Foreign Office from February to July 1894 in the Aoki

Aoki Shuzo

was a diplomat and Foreign Minister in Meiji period Japan.-Biography:Viscount Aoki was born to a samurai family as son of the Chōshū domain's physician in what is now part of Sanyō Onoda in Yamaguchi Prefecture)...

-Kimberley

John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley

John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley KG , PC , known as the Lord Wodehouse from 1846 to 1866, was a British Liberal politician...

 negotiations which resulted in the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation

Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation

The signed by Britain and Japan, on July 16, 1894, was a breakthrough agreement; it heralded the end of the unequal treaties and the system of extraterritoriality in Japan. The treaty came into force on July 17, 1899....

 (July 16, 1894). He was, especially in retirement, a close friend of Satow's.

Despite having no university degree, Gubbins was awarded an honorary Master's degree from Balliol College and was made Lecturer in Japanese language

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 at Oxford University (1909-12). Lack of pupils led to his position being terminated.