Banks, Joseph, 1743-1820

Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, was born on February 24, 1743, in London, England.

He was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. As a boy, Banks enjoyed exploring the Lincolnshire countryside and developed a keen interest in nature, history, and botany. He was educated at Harrow School, Eton College, and Oxford University. In 1766, he was elected to the Royal Society and went with Phipps aboard the frigate HMS Niger to Newfoundland and Labrador intending to study their natural history. He made his name by publishing the first Linnean descriptions of the plants and animals of Newfoundland and Labrador. Banks took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage (1768–1771) on HMS Endeavour, visiting Brazil, Tahiti, and after six months in New Zealand and Australia, returning home to immediate fame. In 1781, he was made a baronet. Banks held the position of President of the Royal Society for over 41 years. He advised King George III on the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and by sending botanists all over 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; becoming the first European to document 1,400. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1787 and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1788. Among other activities, Banks found time to serve as a trustee of the British Museum for 42 years. He was the high sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1794. He was invested as a Knight of the Order of the Bath (KB) in 1795, which became Knight Grand Cross (GCB) when the order was restructured in 1815.

In 1779, he Lady Dorothea Hugessen (1758-1828). He died on June 19, 1820, in London, England.