Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English
naturalist
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
, botanist, and patron of the
natural sciences
Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...
.
Banks made his name on the
1766 natural-history expedition to
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...
. He took part in Captain
James Cook
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...
's
first great voyage (1768–1771), visiting Brazil, Tahiti, and after 6 months in New Zealand, Australia, returning to immediate fame. He held the position of president of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
for over 41 years. He advised
King George III on the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,10 ...
, sending botanists around the world to
collect plants, he made Kew the world's leading botanical garden. He is credited for bringing 30,000 plant specimens home with him; amongst them, he was the first European to document 1,400.
Banks advocated
British settlement in
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
and the colonisation of Australia, as well as the establishment of
Botany Bay
Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...
as a place for the
reception of convicts, and advised the British government on all Australian matters. He is credited with introducing the
eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...
,
acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as wattles or acacias, is a genus of about of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa, South America, and Austral ...
, and the
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
named after him, ''
Banksia'', to the
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...
. Around 80 species of plants bear his name. He was the leading founder of the
African Association
The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa (commonly known as the African Association), founded in London on 9 June 1788, was a British club dedicated to the exploration of West Africa, with the mission of discov ...
and a member of the
Society of Dilettanti, which helped to establish the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
.
Early life

Banks was born in
Argyll Street,
Soho
SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, the son of
William Banks, a wealthy
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
country
squire and member of the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
, and his wife Sarah, daughter of William Bate.
He was baptised at
St James's Church, Piccadilly, on 20 February 1743,
Old Style. He had a younger sister,
Sarah Sophia Banks, born in 1744.
Education
Banks was educated at
Harrow School
Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...
from the age of nine and then at
Eton College
Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...
from 1756; the boys with whom he attended the school included his future shipmate
Constantine Phipps.
As a boy, Banks enjoyed exploring the Lincolnshire countryside and developed a keen interest in nature, history, and botany. When he was 17, he was inoculated with
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
, but he became ill and did not return to school. In late 1760, he was enrolled as a
gentleman-commoner at the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
. At Oxford, he
matriculated at
Christ Church, where his studies were largely focussed on natural history rather than the classical curriculum. Determined to receive botanical instruction, he paid the
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
botanist
Israel Lyons to deliver a series of lectures at Oxford in 1764.
[Gascoigne, John (2004) "Banks, Sir Joseph, baronet (1743–1820)", in '']Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
'', Oxford University Press, .
Banks left Oxford for
Chelsea in December 1763. He continued to attend the university until 1764, but left that year without taking a degree.
[He was, however, awarded an honorary degree by Oxford on his return from his voyage to the South Seas, see "Banks, Sir Joseph", in ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography'', Scribner, 1970.] His father had died in 1761, so when Banks reached the age of 21, he inherited the large estate of
Revesby Abbey, in Lincolnshire, becoming the local squire and
magistrate
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...
, and dividing his time between Lincolnshire and London. From his mother's house in Chelsea, he kept up his interest in science by attending the
Chelsea Physic Garden
The Chelsea Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries' Garden in London, England, in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to grow plants to be used as medicines. This four acre physic garden, the term here referring to the scie ...
of the
Worshipful Society of Apothecaries and the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
, where he met the Swedish naturalist
Daniel Solander. He began to make friends among the scientific men of his day and to correspond with
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
, whom he came to know through Solander. As Banks's influence increased, he became an adviser to
King George III and urged the monarch to support voyages of discovery to new lands, hoping to indulge his own interest in botany. He became a
Freemason sometime before 1769.
Newfoundland and Labrador
In 1766, Banks was elected to the Royal Society, and in the same year, at 23, he went with Phipps aboard the frigate to Newfoundland and Labrador with a view to studying their natural history. He made his name by publishing the first
Linnean descriptions of the plants and animals of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Banks also documented 34 species of birds, including the
great auk
The great auk (''Pinguinus impennis''), also known as the penguin or garefowl, is an Extinction, extinct species of flightless bird, flightless auk, alcid that first appeared around 400,000 years ago and Bird extinction, became extinct in the ...
, which became extinct in 1844. On 7 May, he noted a large number of "penguins" swimming around the ship on the
Grand Banks, and a specimen he collected in
Chateau Bay, Labrador, was later identified as the great auk.
[
]
''Endeavour'' voyage
Banks was appointed to a joint Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
/Royal Society scientific expedition to the South Pacific Ocean on HMS ''Endeavour'', 1768–1771. This was the first of James Cook's voyages of discovery in that region. Banks funded eight others to join him: the Swedish naturalist
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
Daniel Solander, the Finnish naturalist Herman Spöring (who also served as Banks's personal secretary and as a draughtsman), artists Sydney Parkinson and Alexander Buchan, and four servants from his estate: James Roberts, Peter Briscoe, Thomas Richmond, and George Dorlton. In 1771, he was travelling with James Cook and docked in Simon's Town
Simon's Town (), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of Simon's Bay in False Bay, on the eastern s ...
in what is now South Africa. There, he met the trader Christoffel Brand and a friendship started. He was the godfather of Brand's grandson Christoffel Brand.
The voyage went to Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, where Banks made the first scientific description of a now common garden plant, '' Bougainvillea'' (named after Cook's French counterpart, Louis Antoine de Bougainville), and to other parts of South America. The voyage then progressed to Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...
(where the transit of Venus was observed,[ the overt purpose of the mission), then to New Zealand.
From there, it proceeded to the east coast of Australia, where Cook mapped the coastline and made landfall at Botany Bay. The ship then landed at Round Hill (23-25 May 1770), which is now known as Seventeen Seventy and at Endeavour River (near modern Cooktown) in ]Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
, where they spent almost seven weeks ashore while the ship was repaired after becoming holed on the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...
. While they were in Australia, Banks, Daniel Solander, and Finnish botanist Dr Herman Spöring Jr. made the first major collection of Australian flora, describing many species new to science. Almost 800 specimens were illustrated by the artist Sydney Parkinson and appear in Banks' ''Florilegium'', finally published in 35 volumes between 1980 and 1990. Notable also was that during the period when the ''Endeavour'' was being repaired, Banks observed a kangaroo, first recorded as "kanguru" on 12 July 1770 in an entry in his diary.
Return home and voyage to Iceland
Banks arrived back in England on 12 July 1771. He had intended to go with Cook on his second voyage, which began on 13 May 1772, but difficulties arose about Banks's scientific requirements on board Cook's new ship, HMS ''Resolution''. The Admiralty regarded Banks's demands as unacceptable and withdrew his permission to sail. Banks immediately arranged an alternative expedition, and in July 1772, Daniel Solander and he visited the Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
, the Hebrides, Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
, and the Orkney Islands
Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland ...
, aboard ''Sir Lawrence''. In Iceland, they ascended Mt. Hekla and visited the Great Geyser, and were the first scientific visitors to Staffa in the Inner Hebrides. They returned to London in November, with many botanical specimens, via Edinburgh, where Banks and Solander were interviewed by James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of the English writer Samuel Johnson, '' Life of Samuel ...
. In 1773, he toured south Wales in the company of artist Paul Sandby. When he settled in London, he began work on his ''Florilegium''. He kept in touch with most of the scientists of his time, was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...
in 1773, and added a fresh interest when he was elected to the Dilettante Society in 1774. He was afterwards secretary of this society from 1778 to 1797. On 30 November 1778, he was elected president of the Royal Society, a position he was to hold with great distinction for over 41 years.
In March 1779, Banks married Dorothea Hugessen, daughter of W. W. Hugessen, and settled in a large house at 32 Soho Square.[ It continued to be his London residence for the remainder of his life. There, he welcomed the scientists, students, and authors of his period, and many distinguished foreign visitors. His sister Sarah Sophia Banks lived in the house with Banks and his wife. He had as librarian and curator of his collections Solander, ]Jonas Carlsson Dryander
Jonas Carlsson Dryander (5 March 1748 – 19 October 1810) was a Swedish botanist.
Biography
Dryander was born in Gothenburg, Sweden. He was the son of Carl Leonard Dryander and Brita Maria Montin. He was a pupil of Carl Linnaeus at Uppsal ...
, and Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author
Entertainers and artists
* Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer
* Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...
in succession.
Also in 1779, Banks took a lease on an estate called Spring Grove, the former residence of Elisha Biscoe (1705–1776), which he eventually bought outright from Biscoe's son, also Elisha, in 1808. Its 34 acres ran along the northern side of the London Road, Isleworth
Isleworth ( ) is a suburban town in the London Borough of Hounslow, West London, England.
It lies immediately east of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane, London, River Crane. Isleworth's original area of ...
, and contained a natural spring, which was an important attraction to him. Banks spent much time and effort on this secondary home. He steadily created a renowned botanical masterpiece on the estate, achieved primarily with many of the great variety of foreign plants he had collected on his extensive travels around the world, particularly to Australia and the South Seas. The surrounding district became known as Spring Grove.
The house was substantially extended and rebuilt by later owners and is now part of West Thames College.
Banks was made a baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
in 1781, three years after being elected president of the Royal Society. During much of this time, he was an informal adviser to King George III on the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a position that was formalised in 1797. Banks dispatched explorers and botanists to many parts of the world, and through these efforts, Kew Gardens became arguably the pre-eminent botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...
in the world, with many species being introduced to Europe through them and through Chelsea Physic Garden
The Chelsea Physic Garden was established as the Apothecaries' Garden in London, England, in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries to grow plants to be used as medicines. This four acre physic garden, the term here referring to the scie ...
and their head gardener John Fairbairn. He directly fostered several famous voyages, including that of George Vancouver
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...
to the northeastern Pacific (Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...
), and William Bligh's voyages (one entailing the infamous mutiny on the ''Bounty'') to transplant breadfruit
Breadfruit (''Artocarpus altilis'') is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family ( Moraceae) believed to have been selectively bred in Polynesia from the breadnut ('' Artocarpus camansi''). Breadfruit was spread into ...
from the South Pacific to the Caribbean islands. Banks was also a major financial supporter of William Smith in his decade-long efforts to create a geological map of England, the first geological map of an entire country. He also chose Allan Cunningham for voyages to Brazil and the north and northwest coasts of Australia to collect specimens.
Colonisation of New South Wales
Banks's own time in Australia, however, led to his interest in the British colonisation
475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence.
Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...
of that continent. He was to be the greatest proponent of settlement in New South Wales. A genus of the Proteaceae
The Proteaceae form a family (biology), family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genus, genera with about 1,660 known species. Australia and South Africa have the greatest concentr ...
was named in his honour as '' Banksia''. In 1779, Banks, giving evidence before a committee of the House of Commons, had stated that in his opinion the place most eligible for the reception of convicts
A convict is "a person found Guilt (law), guilty of a crime and Sentence (law), sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a commo ...
"was Botany Bay, on the coast of New Holland", on the general grounds that, "it was not to be doubted that a Tract of Land such as New Holland, which was larger than the whole of Europe, would furnish Matter of advantageous Return".
Although Banks remained uninvolved in these colonies in a hands on manner, he was, nonetheless, the general adviser to the government on all Australian matters for twenty years. He arranged that a large number of useful trees and plants should be sent out in the supply ship , which was unfortunately wrecked, as well as other ships; many of these were supplied by Hugh Ronalds from his nursery in Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has dive ...
. Every vessel that came from New South Wales brought to Banks plants or animals or geological and other specimens and, on at least one occasion, human remains. Governor Philip Gidley King
Captain Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1800 to 1806. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detai ...
sent Banks the severed head of an Aboriginal man named Pemulwuy that Banks had seemingly listed as among his "desiderata."
He was continually called on for help in developing the agriculture and trade of the colony, and his influence was used in connection with the sending out of early free settlers, one of whom, a young gardener George Suttor, later wrote a memoir of Banks. The three earliest governors of the colony, Arthur Phillip
Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first Governor of New South Wales, governor of the Colony of New South Wales.
Phillip was educated at Royal Hospital School, Gree ...
, John Hunter, and Philip Gidley King
Captain Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a Royal Navy officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1800 to 1806. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detai ...
, were in continual correspondence with him. Banks produced a significant body of papers, including one of the earliest Aboriginal Australian words lists compiled by a European. Bligh was also appointed governor of New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
on Banks's recommendation. Banks followed the explorations of Matthew Flinders, George Bass
George Bass (; 30 January 1771 – after 5 February 1803) was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.
Early life
Bass was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George B ...
, and Lieutenant James Grant, and among his paid helpers were George Caley, Robert Brown, and Allan Cunningham.
However, Banks backed William Bligh to be installed as the new governor of New South Wales and to crack down on the New South Wales Corps
The New South Wales Corps, later known as the 102d Regiment of Foot, and lastly as the 100th Regiment of Foot, was a formation of the British Army organised in 1789 in England to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, which had accompanied ...
(or Rum Corps), which made a fortune on the trading of rum. This brought him in direct confrontation with post-Rum Rebellion ''de facto'' leaders such as John Macarthur and George Johnston. This backing led to the Rum Rebellion in Sydney, whereby the governor was overthrown by the two men. This became an embarrassment for Sir Joseph Banks, also, because years earlier, he campaigned that John Macarthur not be granted of land near Sydney in the cow pastures, which was later granted by Lord Camden. The next governor, Lachlan Macquarie
Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Lachlan Macquarie, Companion of the Order of the Bath, CB (; ; 31 January 1762 – 1 July 1824) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. Macquarie served as the fifth Gove ...
, was asked to arrest Macarthur and Johnston, only to realise that they had left Sydney for London to defend themselves. He was humiliated that Macarthur and Johnston were acquitted from all charges in London and both later returned to Sydney.
Later life
Banks met the young Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...
in 1790, when Banks was already the president of the Royal Society. Before Humboldt and his scientific travel companion and collaborator Aimé Bonpland left for what became a five-year journal of exploration and discovery, Humboldt requested a British passport for Bonpland, should the two encounter British warships. On their travels, Humboldt arranged for specimens be sent to Banks, should they be seized by the British. Banks and Humboldt remained in touch until Banks's death, aiding Humboldt by mobilising his wide network of scientific contacts to forward information to the great German scientist. Both men believed in the internationalism of science.
Banks was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
in 1787 and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
in 1788. Among other activities, Banks found time to serve as a trustee of the British Museum for 42 years. He was high sheriff of Lincolnshire
This is a list of High Sheriffs of Lincolnshire.
The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilit ...
in 1794.
He worked with Sir George Staunton in producing the official account of the British mission to the Chinese Imperial court. This diplomatic and trade mission was headed by George, Earl Macartney. Although the Macartney Embassy returned to London without obtaining any concession from China, the mission could have been termed a success because it brought back detailed observations. This multivolume work was taken chiefly from the papers of Lord Macartney and from the papers of Sir Erasmus Gower, who was commander of the expedition. Banks was responsible for selecting and arranging engraving of the illustrations in this official record.
Banks was invested as a Knight of the Order of the Bath (KB) on 1 July 1795, which became Knight Grand Cross (GCB) when the order was restructured in 1815.
Banks was a large landowner and activist encloser, drainer and ‘improver’ in Fens at Revesby.
Banks's health began to fail early in the 19th century and he suffered from gout
Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...
every winter. After 1805, he practically lost the use of his legs and had to be wheeled to his meetings in a chair, but his mind remained as vigorous as ever. He had been a member of the Society of Antiquaries nearly all his life, and he developed an interest in archaeology in his later years. In 1807, William Kerr named the Lady Banks climbing rose after Banks's wife. Banks was made an honorary founding member of the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
in 1808. In 1809, he became associated member of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands. In 1809, his friend Alexander Henry dedicated his travel book to him. In May 1820, he forwarded his resignation as president of the Royal Society, but withdrew it at the request of the council. In 1819, Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, on his First Russian Antarctic Expedition, briefly stopped in England and met Joseph Banks. Banks had sailed with James Cook
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...
50 years earlier and supplied the Russians with books and charts for their expedition. He died on 19 June 1820 in Spring Grove House, Isleworth, London, and was buried at St Leonard's Church, Heston. Lady Banks survived him, but they had no children.
Legacy
Banks was a major supporter of the internationalist nature of science, being actively involved both in keeping open the lines of communication with continental scientists during the Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, and in introducing the British people to the wonders of the wider world. He was honoured with many place names in the South Pacific: Banks Peninsula on the South Island
The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
, New Zealand; the Banks Islands in modern-day Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...
; the Banks Strait between Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
and the Furneaux Islands; Banks Island in the Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...
, Canada; and the Sir Joseph Banks Group in South Australia.
The Canberra
Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
suburb of Banks, the electoral Division of Banks, and the Sydney suburbs of Bankstown, Banksia, and Banksmeadow are all named after him, as is the northern headland of Botany Bay
Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...
, Cape Banks. A number of schools and colleges are also named after him, including the Sir Joseph Banks High School in the Sydney suburb of Revesby, and the Joseph Banks Secondary College opened in Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, Western Australia in 2015.
An image of Banks was featured on the paper $5 Australian banknote from its introduction in 1967 before it was replaced by the later polymer currency.
In 1986, Banks was honoured by his portrait being depicted on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post.
In Lincoln, England, the Sir Joseph Banks Conservatory was constructed in 1989 at The Lawn, Lincoln; its tropical hot house had numerous plants related to Banks's voyages, with samples from across the world, including Australia. The conservatory was moved to Woodside Wildlife Park in 2016 and has been named 'Endeavour'. A plaque was installed in Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...
in his honour. In Boston, Lincolnshire, Banks was recorder for the town. His portrait, painted in 1814 by Thomas Phillips, was commissioned by the Corporation of Boston, as a tribute to one whose 'judicious and active exertions improved and enriched this borough and neighbourhood'. It cost them 100 guineas. The portrait is now hanging in the Council Chamber of the Guildhall Museum.
The Sir Joseph Banks Centre is located in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, housed in a Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
, which was recently restored by the Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire to celebrate Banks's life. Horncastle is located a few miles from Banks's Revesby estate and the naturalist was the town's lord of the manor. The centre is located on Bridge Street. It boasts research facilities, historic links to Australia, and a garden in which rare plants can be viewed and purchased.
At the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show, an exhibition garden celebrated the historic link between Banks and the botanical discoveries of flora and fauna on his journey through South America, Tahiti, New Zealand, and eventually Australia on Captain Cook's ship ''Endeavour''. The competition garden was the entry of Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens with an Australian theme. It was based on the metaphorical journey of water through the continent, related to the award-winning Australian Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne. The design won a gold medal.
In 1911, London County Council marked Banks's house at 32 Soho Square with a blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
. This was replaced in 1938 with a rectangular stone plaque commemorating Banks and botanists David Don and Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author
Entertainers and artists
* Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer
* Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...
and meetings of the Linnean Society.
Banks appears in the historical novel '' Mutiny on the Bounty'', by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. He appears briefly as a contact with British naval intelligence in the historical novel ''Post Captain'', from the Aubrey–Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series. These sea novels are set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and ...
. He is also featured in Elizabeth Gilbert's 2013 best-selling novel, '' The Signature of All Things'', and is a major character in Martin Davies' 2005 novel '' The Conjuror's Bird''.
Banks's life and influence were explored in a documentary five-part television series ''The Lost World of Joseph Banks'' in 2016.
Banks's account of the ''Endeavour's'' approach to Botany Bay might have been the basis for the invisible ships myth.
Herbarium specimens collected by Banks and Solander are cared for in herbaria, including at the National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
Dispersal of Banks's papers
Following Banks's death in 1820 a "treasure-trove of letters and papers"[Matthew Fishburn]
The book that Joseph Banks burned
sl.nsw.gov.au; first published in ''SL Magazine'', Summer 2017–18. Retrieved 26 September 2022. was passed to Sir Edward Knatchbull, his wife's nephew. In 1828 the latter passed bound volumes of foreign correspondence to the British Library but retained the rest of the papers in the expectation that an official biography would be written.[Papers of Sir Joseph Banks](_blank)
nla.gov.au. Retrieved 26 September 2022. After the death of Knatchbull and his wife, the letters and papers were passed on to their son Edward Knatchbull Hugesson, 1st Baron Brabourne, who offered to sell them to the British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
. However, in 1884 it declined to purchase them. Following that "notorious" decision the Agent General of New South Wales, Sir Saul Samuel, issued instructions for the purchase of a large portion of the papers, which now form part of the State Library of New South Wales's Brabourne Collection. The "large quantities of papers" which remained were then auctioned off at Sotheby's in London in March and April 1886. One of the successful bidders was E. A. Petherick. Many of those are now in the Petherick Collection at the National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
. During the twentieth century the National Library continued to purchase Banks's letters and papers when they came on the market.
Online archive
In his ''Endeavour'' journal, Banks recorded 30 years of his life. Letters, invoices, maps, regalia, and watercolour drawings have now been digitised on the State Library of NSW website. This rich research and educational tool provides access to 8800 high-quality digital images.
See also
* European and American voyages of scientific exploration
* List of Notable Freemasons
* History of Australia
* List of presidents of the Royal Society
References
Cited sources
*
Further reading
Primary resources
Sutro Library
a branch of the California State Library
The California State Library is the state library of the State of California, founded in 1850 by the California State Legislature. The Library collects, preserves, generates and disseminates a wide array of information. Today, it is the central ...
Sir Joseph Banks Collection, 1770-1812.
* State Library of New South Wales. Papers of Sir Joseph Banks an
The ''Endeavour'' Journal of Joseph Banks, 1768–1771
*National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
(NLA)
Papers of Sir Joseph Banks
* Royal Geographical Society of South Australiabr>Journal of a voyage to Newfoundland and Labrador commencing 7 April and ending 17 November 1766
* Notebooks containing vocabularies of Tahitian languages and observations collected by Banks are held b
SOAS Special Collections
. Digitised items from the collection are available to view onlin
here
Secondary resources
* Cameron, H. C. (1952) ''Sir Joseph Banks, K.B., P.R.S.; the Autocrat of the Philosophers'', Batchworth Press.
*Carter, H. B. (1964) ''His Majesty's Spanish Flock: Sir Joseph Banks and the Merinos of George III of England'', University of Sydney.
* Carter, Harold Burnell (1988) ''Sir Joseph Banks, 1743–1820'' London: British Museum of Natural History ;
*
*Dawson, W. R. (ed) (1958) ''The Banks Letters'', University of London.
* Durt, Tania (2007) "Joseph Banks", pp. 173–181 in ''The Great Naturalists'', edited by Robert Huxley. London: Thames & Hudson with the Natural History Museum.
* Duyker, Edward (1998) ''Nature's Argonaut: Daniel Solander 1733-1782: Naturalist and Voyager with Cook and Banks''. Melbourne University Press.
* Marshall, John Braybrooke. "Daniel Carl Solander, Friend, Librarian and Assistant to Sir Joseph Banks." Archives of Natural History 11.3 (1984): 451–456.
*Duyker, Edward & Tingbrand, Per (ed. & trans) (1995) Daniel Solander: Collected Correspondence 1753–1782, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, pp. 466, Scandinavian University Press, Oslo, 1995, pp. 466,
* Fara, Patricia (2004) ''Sex, Botany & Empire: The Story Of Carl Linnaeus And Joseph Banks.'' New York: Columbia University Press
* Gascoigne, John (1994) ''Joseph Banks and the English Enlightenment: Useful Knowledge and Polite Culture'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
* Gascoigne, John (1998) ''Science in the Service of Empire: Joseph Banks, The British State and the Uses of Science in the Age of Revolution.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
*, Volume I
Volume II-III
* Kryza, Frank T. (207) ''The Race to Timbuktu: In Search of Africa's City of Gold.'' New York: HarperCollins
*Lysaght, A. M. (1971). Joseph Banks in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1766; his diary, manuscripts, and collections. Faber and Faber, London. ;
*Mackaness, G. (1936) ''Sir Joseph Banks. His Relations with Australia'', University of Sydney
*Maiden, J. H. (1909) Sir Joseph Banks: The “Father of Australia”. Kegan Paul.
*
* O'Brian, Patrick 1993 ''Joseph Banks: A Life.'' London: David R. Godine, 1993. , reprinted by University of Chicago Press, 1997
* ——— 1987 ''Sir Joseph Banks'' London: Harvill Press.
* Smith, Edward (1911) Life of Sir Joseph Banks: With Some Notices of his Friends and Contemporaries. John Lane.
Select unpublished monographs
* Duncan, A. (1821) ''A Short Account of the Life of the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks'', University of Edinburgh.
* Gilbert, L. (1962) ''Botanical Investigation of Eastern Seaboard Australia, 1788–1810'', B.A. thesis, University of New England, Australia.
Fiction
Novels based on a mix of historical fact and conjecture about Banks's early life include:
* Davies, Martin (2005) ''The Conjurer's Bird'' New York: Shaye Areheart/Random House.
External links
*
Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks during Captain Cook's first voyage in H.M.S. Endeavour in 1768–71 to Terra del Fuego, Otahite, New Zealand, Australia, the Dutch East Indies, etc.
Joseph Banks and J. D. Hooker. Macmillan, 1896.
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
''Correspondence concerning Iceland: written to Sir Joseph Banks''
1772–1818, from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
* Lovell, Jennifer.
" ''National Library of Australia News'' 15.7 (April 2005).
* Sir Joseph Banks Society.
Archive of Joseph Banks related material
"
* British Museum
Bronze portrait bust of Sir Joseph Banks by Anne Seymour Damer
(1814)
* BBC
Historic figures
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
Science at Sea
*
Papers of Sir Joseph Banks
– State Library of New South Wales
William Bligh's letters to Sir Joseph Banks
concerning the first Breadfruit Expedition
Sir Joseph Banks papers (MS 58)
Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Joseph
English botanists
1743 births
1820 deaths
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
Joseph
Banks, Joseph, 1st Baronet
Botanical collectors active in Australia
Botanists active in New Zealand
Botanists active in North America
Botanists active in South America
Botanists active in the Pacific
English explorers of the Pacific
Explorers of Australia
Freemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Fellows of the Royal Society
Presidents of the Royal Society
Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London
High sheriffs of Lincolnshire
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Soho Square
Trustees of the British Museum
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
People educated at Eton College
People educated at Harrow School
18th-century English botanists
18th-century English explorers
People from East Lindsey District
Participants in James Cook's voyages
People from Soho
International members of the American Philosophical Society
Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities
18th-century English naturalists