BANKS, SIR JOSEPH, BARONET

born , Feb. 13, 1743, London, Eng. died June 19, 1820, Isleworth, London British explorer and naturalist, and long-time president of the Royal Society, known for his promotion of science. Banks was schooled at Harrow and Eton and attended Christ Church, Oxford, from 1760 to 1763; he inherited a considerable fortune from his father in 1761. Banks then traveled, collecting plant and natural history specimens, to Newfoundland and Labrador (1766), around the world with Captain James Cook (176871), and to Iceland (1772). Banks was interested in economic plants and their introduction into countries; he was the first to suggest (1805) the identity of the wheat rust and barberry fungus; and he was the first to show that the marsupial mammals were more primitive than the placental mammals. In his capacity as honorary director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (near London), he sent many botanical collectors to various countries. His house became a meeting place for the exchange of ideas. After he became president of the Royal Society (17781820) he improved the position of science in Britain and cultivated interchange with scientists of other nations; he was, however, accused by many fellow scientists of exercising excessive authority as president and even of being despotic. In 1781 he was made a baronet. The order of Knight Commander of the Bath was bestowed upon him in 1795, and two years later he was admitted to the Privy Council. Banks's herbarium, considered one of the most important in existence, and his library, a major collection of works on natural history, are now at the British Museum. Banks' Florilegium, a collection of engravings of plants compiled by Banks and based on drawings by Daniel Solander during Cook's 176871 voyage, was published in 1978. Additional reading Hector Charles Cameron, Sir Joseph Banks, K.B., P.R.S. (1952, reissued 1966); and Charles Lyte, Sir Joseph Banks (1980).