William Banks (1719 - 1761)

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Bate) Banks — married 26 Sep 1741 in Burghley House, Lincolnshire, England

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William Banks was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

Biography

Banks, William (1719-61). Eldest surviving son of Joseph Banks (1695-1741) and his first wife, Anne, daughter and heiress of William Hodgkinson of Overton (Derbys), born 19 April 1719. Educated at Westminster, 1730-33 and Middle Temple (admitted 1736). He assumed the name and arms of Hodgkinson in 1733 after inheriting the Overton estate from his grandfather, but reverted to Banks when his father died and he inherited Revesby; he then made Overton over to his younger brother, Robert so that the two estates remained separate, as his grandfather had intended. Tory MP for Grampound, 1741-47, on the Prince of Wales' interest; JP and DL for Lincolnshire. From 1754 onwards, he was a prime mover in schemes for the drainage of Holland Fen and the construction of the Grand Sluice at Boston, and he was a promoter of the Witham Navigation Act, finally passed in the year of his death. In 1745 he contracted a fever which deprived him of the use of his lower limbs for the rest of his life (except for a brief period of six months in 1752 when he had a temporary recovery), and this curtailed his Parliamentary career.

He married, 26 September 1741 in the chapel of Burghley House (Lincs), Sarah (1719-1804), daughter of William Bate of Foston Hall (Derbys) and niece-by-marriage of the Earl of Exeter, and had issue: (1) Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), 1st bt. (2) Sarah Sophia Banks (1744-1818), born 17 October 1744; a woman of character, devoted to her brother, for whom she kept house at Spring Grove and Soho Square; she shared his passion for natural history, but was also a great collector of ephemera such as ballad sheets, tradesmen’s cards and tokens; her collections are now in the British Library; she died unmarried, 27 September 1818, as a result of a carriage accident in which her brother was also injured.

He inherited the Overton estate from his grandfather in 1727, but passed this on to his next brother under the terms of his grandfather's will when he inherited Revesby from his father in 1741. He refurnished Revesby in 1743. His widow moved to a house at 22 Paradise Row, Chelsea (Middx), which made a convenient base from which her son could visit the Chelsea Physick Garden.

He was buried at Revesby, 1 October 1761; his will was proved 8 October 1761. His widow was buried 7 September 1804; administration of her goods with will annexed was granted 1 October 1804.

Sources

• wikipedia:William Banks (barrister)
• https://landedfamilies.blogspot.com/2019/01/361-banks-of-beck-house-and-revesby.html