Henry Bankes

Henry Bankes ( 1757 - December 17, 1834 in Tregothnan , Cornwall ) was an English politician and author.

Life

Bankes was the only surviving son of Henry Bankes and the great-grandson of Sir John Bankes, Chief Justice of General Actions in the time of Charles I. He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College , Cambridge, where he graduated with a BA in 1778 and MA in 1781. In 1776 he inherited his father's estate at Kingston Lacy.

After leaving Cambridge, he sat near Corfe Castle from 1780 to 1826. He was elected to the county of Dorset last year and re-elected in the general election that year, but rejected after fierce competition in 1830. In politics he was a conservative. He gave general support to Prime Minister Pitt but retained his independence. He took an active, but not leading, part in almost every debate of his time and was closely involved in all parliamentary tasks.

The Enclosure Act of 1784 allowed Henry to create the current Kingston Lacy estate and parkland. He destroyed the hamlet of Kingston, which was next to the 16th-century Keeper's Lodge, diverted Blandford Road (now the B3082) and converted former farmland into parkland. He made other minor changes in the 1820s.

He was the trustee of the British Museum and served as its organ in Parliament. In 1784 he married Frances, daughter of William Woodley, governor of the Leeward Islands, and left a large family. His second son was William John Bankes and his third was George Bankes. His daughter married Edward Boscawen, 1st Earl of Falmouth. Bankes died on December 17, 1834 in Tregothnan, Cornwall, and was buried in Wimborne Minster. William John Bankes succeeded him and took possession of Kingston Lacy.

Web links

Literature by and about Henry Bankes in the WorldCat bibliographic database

Individual evidence

↑ Bankes, Henry. In: Cooper Thompson: A New Biographical Dictionary: Containing Concise Notices of Eminent Persons of all Ages and Countries: And more Particularly of Distinguished Natives of Great Britain and Ireland. Bell, London 1873.

personal data
SURNAME	Bankes, Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English politician and author
DATE OF BIRTH	1757
DATE OF DEATH	December 17, 1834
Place of death	Tregothnan , Cornwall

[1] Bankes, Henry. In: Cooper Thompson: A New Biographical Dictionary: Containing Concise Notices of Eminent Persons of all Ages and Countries: And more Particularly of Distinguished Natives of Great Britain and Ireland. Bell, London 1873.