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

Henry Doubleday

Henry Doubleday

Naturalist. Born at 62 (the site of which is now number 271) High Street, Epping, Essex. He was the author of the first catalogue of British butterflies and moths, and named a number of new species...

Person, Science

1 memorial
Maurice Wilkins

Maurice Wilkins

Molecular biologist. Born New Zealand. Worked on DNA X-ray diffraction studies 1953 at King's College London with Franklin, Gosling, Stokes and Wilson.  1962 awarded a Nobel Prize with Crick and Wa...

Person, Science, New Zealand

2 memorials
David Kirkaldy

David Kirkaldy

Born near Dundee. In 1857 Kirkaldy helped form the Institution of Engineers in Scotland and was the first person to set up a load testing machine for construction materials powerful enough to deal ...

Person, Science, Scotland

2 memorials
John Desmond Bernal, MA, FRS.

John Desmond Bernal, MA, FRS.

Crystallographer. John Desmond Bernal was born on 10 May 1901 in Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland, the eldest of the five children of Samuel George Bernal (1864-1919) and Elizabeth Bernal née Mil...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services, Science, Ireland

1 memorial
Royal Society

Royal Society

Also known as the Royal Society of London (for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge). A learned society for science, granted a royal charter by King Charles II.  Wren was a founding member. The Soc...

Group, Community / Clubs, Race Issues, Science

4 memorials

Previously viewed

Anna Walker

Anna Walker

Mural painter active in 1985. Married to Ray and helped complete the Dalston mural after Ray's death.

Person, Art

1 memorial
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Composer. Born as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart at 9 Getreidegasse, Salzburg in modern day Austria. (Amadeus was a sort of nickname). His father, Leopold was a prominent musici...

Person, Music / songs, Seriously Famous, Austria

7 memorials
Ernest Dowson

Ernest Dowson

Poet. Born Kent. A member of The Rhymers' Club. At the end of his life he was impoverished and was looked after by Robert Sherard at his house at 26 Sandhurst Gardens, Catford, where he died.

Person, Poetry

2 memorials
84 Charing Cross Road

84 Charing Cross Road

Book written by Helene Hanff in 1970 concerning the 20-year correspondence between her and Frank Doel, chief buyer at Marks & Co.. Based in New York City she first made contact in 1949 when sea...

Media, Literature, USA

1 memorial
Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Queen of Scots

Mary’s first 20 years were an amazing roller-coaster of a life. She spent the last 20 years imprisoned and was then beheaded. Born in Linlithgow Palace (north east of Edinburgh), only surviving ch...

Person, Royalty, Seriously Famous, Scotland

6 memorials