Who is Mr. Blank from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World and what is their importance?

Mr. Blank met Twain in Bendigo and arranged for his family to take a tour of the city. Mr. Black was very knowledgeable about Twain and his works. He was an educated Irish bachelor in his forties and had been the first President of the Mark Twain Club at Corrigan Castle in Ireland. He had corresponded with Twain by mail more than twenty years earlier, but this was the first time they met.