Person    | Male  Born 1743  Died 1820

Sir Joseph Banks

Categories: Science

From the British Library: "Joseph Banks was a prominent botanist, who served as President of the Royal Society, and advised on the development of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. He was a key figure in the British Empire’s expansion in, and exploitation of, the Pacific.

"Banks self-funded his journey to join James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific in 1768. As well as collecting thousands of plant and animal specimens from across the globe, Banks and his party described and documented ‘other’ peoples they encountered. In a series of violent clashes during Cook’s voyage around Aotearoa (New Zealand), Banks was involved in the murder of at least one Māori warrior and was also party to the kidnapping of three Māori youths in which four other Māori were shot and killed.

"A decade after returning to England, Banks advocated for the establishment of a British prison colony in ‘New South Wales’, and later of the British colonial settlement of Australia, which has resulted in the ongoing displacement and oppression of the continent’s indigenous peoples. After his death, Banks’ collections were left to the British Museum, later passing in part to the British Library."

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sir Joseph Banks

Commemorated ati

Botanists

Sir Joseph Banks, 1743-1820, President of the Royal Society, Robert Brown, 17...

Read More

Sir Joseph Banks - British Library

This bust is a 20th-century replica after Anne Seymour Damer, 1814.

Read More

Other Subjects

Sir John Sinclair

Sir John Sinclair

Founder and president of the first Board of Agriculture. Born Scotland into family of the Earls of Caithness. 1780 entered the House of Commons. Promoted a scientific and statistical approach to ag...

Person, Gardens / Agriculture, Politics & Administration, Science, Scotland

1 memorial
Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford

Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford

Inventor and adventurer. Born Woburn, Massachusetts. Having spied for the British in America he moved to England in 1776, was knighted by King George III, moved to Germany where he gained the titl...

Person, Politics & Administration, Science, France, Germany, USA

1 memorial
compound steam turbine

compound steam turbine

Invented by Sir Charles Parsons.

Concept, Science

1 memorial
Sir Bernard Katz

Sir Bernard Katz

Biophysicist and physician. Born in Leipzig. He came to Britain in 1935 and worked at the University College London (UCL). In 1938 he went to study at the Sydney Medical School. He joined the Royal...

Person, Medicine, Science, Australia, Germany

1 memorial
Sir John Lubbock

Sir John Lubbock

Banker, politician and scientific writer. Born at 29 Eaton Place. He went into his father's banking business at the age of 14 and became a partner in 1856. Entered parliament in 1870, and succeeded...

Person, Commerce, Politics & Administration, Science

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Minnie Lansbury

Minnie Lansbury

Suffragette and Poplar alderman. Daughter-in-law to George Lansbury. Her early death was brought about by being imprisoned, with other councillors, for refusing to levy a full rate, and catching pn...

Person, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration

5 memorials