View source for Joseph Banks

{{short description|English naturalist and botanist (1743–1820)}}
{{other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2011}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix  = Sir
| name              = Joseph Banks
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|Bt|GCB|FRS|size=100%}}
| image             = Joseph Banks 1773 Reynolds.jpg
| caption           = ''[[Portrait of Joseph Banks]]'' by [[Joshua Reynolds|Sir Joshua Reynolds]], 1773
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=yes|1743|02|24}} <small>(13 February O.S.)</small>
| birth_place       = 30 [[Argyll Street]], London, England
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=yes|1820|06|19|1743|02|24}}
| death_place       = Spring Grove House, [[Isleworth]], London, England
| field             = Botany
| work_institutions = [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]]
| alma_mater        = [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], [[Oxford University|Oxford]]
| known_for         = Voyage of [[HMS Endeavour|HMS ''Endeavour'']], exploration of Botany Bay
| author_abbrev_bot = Banks
| signature         = Joseph Banks signature.png
| spouse            = [[Lady Dorothea Banks|Dorothea Banks]]
| module            = {{Infobox officeholder| embed = yes
|order1 = 21st
|office1 = President of the Royal Society
|predecessor1 = [[Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet|Sir John Pringle]]
|successor1 = [[William Hyde Wollaston]]
|term_start1 = 1778
|term_end1 = 1820
}}
}}

'''Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|sep=,|size=100%|GCB|FRS}} ({{OldStyleDate|24 February|1743|13 February}}{{spaced ndash}}19 June 1820<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52035/Sir-Joseph-Banks-Baronet Sir Joseph Banks, Baronet]. Britannica.com. Retrieved on 22 June 2015.</ref>) was an English [[Natural history|naturalist]], botanist, and patron of the [[natural sciences]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB|title=Banks, Sir Joseph, baronet (1743–1820), naturalist and patron of science|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-1300|access-date=8 February 2021|year=2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/1300|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8|last1=Gascoigne|first1=John}}</ref>

Banks made his name on the [[European and American voyages of scientific exploration|1766 natural-history expedition]] to [[Newfoundland and Labrador]]. He took part in Captain [[James Cook]]'s [[First voyage of James Cook|first great voyage]] (1768–1771), visiting Brazil, Tahiti, and after 6 months in New Zealand, Australia, returning to immediate fame. He held the position of president of the [[Royal Society]] for over 41 years. He advised [[King George III]] on the [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]], sending botanists around the world to [[Botanical expedition|collect plants]], he made Kew the world's leading botanical garden. He is credited for bringing 30,000 plant specimens home with him; amongst them, he was the first European to document 1,400.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Natural Explorer|last=Gooley|first=Tristan|author-link=Tristan Gooley |publisher=Sceptre|year=2012|isbn=978-1-444-72031-0|location=London|page=2}}</ref>

Banks advocated [[Colony of New South Wales|British settlement]] in [[New South Wales]] and the colonisation of Australia, as well as the establishment of [[Botany Bay]] as a place for the [[Penal transportation|reception of convicts]], and advised the British government on all Australian matters. He is credited with introducing the [[eucalyptus]], [[acacia]], and the [[genus]] named after him, ''[[Banksia]]'', to the [[Western world]]. Around 80 species of plants bear his name. He was the leading founder of the [[African Association]] and a member of the [[Society of Dilettanti]], which helped to establish the [[Royal Academy]].

==Early life==
[[File:Joseph Banks as a boy.jpg|left|thumb|upright|A 1757 portrait of Banks with a botanical illustration, unknown artist, but attributed to [[Lemuel Francis Abbott]] or [[Johann Zoffany]]<ref name = "O'Brian"/>]]

Banks was born in [[Argyll Street]], [[Soho]], [[London]], the son of [[William Banks (barrister)|William Banks]], a wealthy [[Lincolnshire]] country [[squire]] and member of the [[House of Commons of Great Britain|House of Commons]], and his wife Sarah, daughter of William Bate.<ref name=":0" /> He was baptised at [[St James's Church, Piccadilly]], on 20 February 1743, [[Old Style and New Style dates|Old Style]].<ref>George Suttor, ed., Joseph Banks, ''Memoirs Historical and Scientific of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks'' (Parramatta: E. Mason, 1855), [https://books.google.com/books?id=8KhcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA19 p. 19]</ref> He had a younger sister, [[Sarah Sophia Banks]], born in 1744.<ref>Hill, J.W.F. (1952) ''The Letters and Papers of the Banks Family of Revesby Abbey'', Lincoln Record Society, vol. 45, noted in Patrick O'Brian, ''Joseph Banks, A Life'', 1987 p. 16</ref>

===Education===
Banks was educated at [[Harrow School]] from the age of nine and then at [[Eton College]] from 1756; the boys with whom he attended the school included his future shipmate [[Constantine Phipps, 2nd Baron Mulgrave|Constantine Phipps]].<ref name = "O'Brian"/>

As a boy, Banks enjoyed exploring the Lincolnshire countryside and developed a keen interest in nature, history, and botany. When he was 17, he was inoculated with [[smallpox]], but he became ill and did not return to school. In late 1760, he was enrolled as a [[Commoner (academia)|gentleman-commoner]] at the [[University of Oxford]]. At Oxford, he [[Matriculation|matriculated]] at [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], where his studies were largely focussed on natural history rather than the classical curriculum. Determined to receive botanical instruction, he paid the [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] botanist [[Israel Lyons]] to deliver a series of lectures at Oxford in 1764.<ref name="ODB">Gascoigne, John (2004) "Banks, Sir Joseph, baronet (1743–1820)", in ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/1300}}.</ref>

Banks left Oxford for [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] in December 1763. He continued to attend the university until 1764, but left that year without taking a degree.<ref name="DoSB">He was, however, awarded an honorary degree by Oxford on his return from his voyage to the South Seas, see "Banks, Sir Joseph", in ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography'', Scribner, 1970.</ref> His father had died in 1761, so when Banks reached the age of 21, he inherited the large estate of [[Revesby Abbey]], in Lincolnshire, becoming the local squire and [[magistrate]], and dividing his time between Lincolnshire and London. From his mother's house in Chelsea, he kept up his interest in science by attending the [[Chelsea Physic Garden]] of the [[Worshipful Society of Apothecaries]] and the [[British Museum]], where he met the Swedish naturalist [[Daniel Solander]]. He began to make friends among the scientific men of his day and to correspond with [[Carl Linnaeus]], whom he came to know through Solander. As Banks's influence increased, he became an adviser to [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]] and urged the monarch to support voyages of discovery to new lands, hoping to indulge his own interest in botany.  He became a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]] sometime before 1769.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.mqmagazine.co.uk/issue-23/p-47.php | title=Specialist Lodges | author=Jackson, John | journal=MQ Magazine | date=October 2007 | issue=27 | pages=ns | archive-date=9 February 2019 | access-date=20 June 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209232232/http://www.mqmagazine.co.uk/issue-23/p-47.php | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Newfoundland and Labrador==
In 1766, Banks was elected to the Royal Society, and in the same year, at 23, he went with Phipps aboard the frigate {{HMS|Niger|1759|6}} to Newfoundland and Labrador with a view to studying their natural history. He made his name by publishing the first [[Linnaean taxonomy|Linnean]] descriptions of the plants and animals of Newfoundland and Labrador.<ref>Tuck, Leslie. Montevecchi, William. Nuttall Ornithological Club (1987). Newfoundland Birds, Exploitation, Study, Conservation, Harvard University.</ref><ref name="ADB">{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=banks-sir-joseph-1737 |title=Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820) |access-date=14 August 2025 |last=Gilbert |first=L. A. |volume=1 |year=1966 |pages=52–55}}</ref> Banks also documented 34 species of birds, including the [[great auk]], which became extinct in 1844. On 7 May, he noted a large number of "penguins" swimming around the ship on the [[Grand Banks]], and a specimen he collected in [[Chateau Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador|Chateau Bay, Labrador]], was later identified as the great auk.<ref name=Lysaght/>

==''Endeavour'' voyage==
{{Solander, Banks, Cook, Hawkesworth and Earl Sandwich by John Hamilton Mortimer|align=right}}
{{Main|First voyage of James Cook}}

Banks was appointed to a joint [[Royal Navy]]/Royal Society scientific expedition to the South Pacific Ocean on [[HMS Endeavour|HMS ''Endeavour'']], 1768–1771. This was the first of James Cook's voyages of discovery in that region. Banks funded eight others to join him: the [[Sweden|Swedish]] [[naturalist]] [[Daniel Solander]], the Finnish naturalist [[Herman Spöring, Jr.|Herman Spöring]] (who also served as Banks's personal secretary and as a draughtsman), artists [[Sydney Parkinson]] and [[Alexander Buchan (artist)|Alexander Buchan]], and four servants from his estate: James Roberts, Peter Briscoe, Thomas Richmond, and George Dorlton.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.captaincooksociety.com/Portals/ccs/Files/Musters/3endeavourmuster1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.captaincooksociety.com/Portals/ccs/Files/Musters/3endeavourmuster1.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=Muster for HMB Endeavour during the first Pacific Voyage, 1768-1771|website=Captain Cook Society|access-date=6 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Holmes, Richard |title=The Age of Wonder |publisher=HarperPress |year=2009|isbn=978-1400031870|page=10}}. Holmes incorrectly states that Green's first name was William, not Charles.</ref> In 1771, he was travelling with James Cook and docked in [[Simon's Town]] in what is now South Africa. There, he met the trader [[Christoffel Brand (trader)|Christoffel Brand]] and a friendship started. He was the godfather of Brand's grandson [[Christoffel Brand]].{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

The voyage went to [[Brazil]], where Banks made the first scientific description of a now common garden plant, ''[[Bougainvillea]]'' (named after Cook's French counterpart, [[Louis Antoine de Bougainville]]), and to other parts of South America. The voyage then progressed to [[Tahiti]] (where the [[transit of Venus]] was observed,<ref name=Holmes/> the overt purpose of the mission), then to New Zealand.

From there, it proceeded to the east coast of Australia, where Cook mapped the coastline and made landfall at Botany Bay. The ship then landed at Round Hill (23–25 May 1770), which is now known as [[Seventeen Seventy, Queensland|Seventeen Seventy]] and at [[Endeavour River]] (near modern [[Cooktown, Queensland|Cooktown]]) in [[Queensland]], where they spent almost seven weeks ashore while the ship was repaired after becoming holed on the [[Great Barrier Reef]].<ref name="ADB"/> While they were in Australia, Banks, Daniel Solander, and Finnish botanist Dr [[Herman Spöring Jr.]] made the first major collection of Australian flora, describing many species new to science. Almost 800 specimens were illustrated by the artist [[Sydney Parkinson]] and appear in [[Banks' Florilegium|Banks' ''Florilegium'']], finally published in 35 volumes between 1980 and 1990. Notable also was that during the period when the ''Endeavour'' was being repaired, Banks observed a [[kangaroo]], first recorded as "kanguru" on 12 July 1770 in an entry in his diary.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

[[File:BotanicMacaroni.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Satire on Banks titled "The Botanic Macaroni", by [[Matthew Darly]], 1772: A [[Macaroni (fashion)|macaroni]] was a pejorative term used for a follower of exaggerated continental fashion in the 18th century.]]

== Return home and voyage to Iceland ==

Banks arrived back in England on 12 July 1771. He had intended to go with Cook on his [[Second voyage of James Cook|second voyage]], which began on 13 May 1772, but difficulties arose about Banks's scientific requirements on board Cook's new ship, [[HMS Resolution (1771)|HMS ''Resolution'']]. The Admiralty regarded Banks's demands as unacceptable and withdrew his permission to sail. Banks immediately arranged an alternative expedition, and in July 1772, Daniel Solander and he visited the [[Isle of Wight]], the Hebrides, [[Iceland]], and the [[Orkney Islands]],<ref name="ADB" /> aboard ''Sir Lawrence''. In Iceland, they ascended [[Mt. Hekla]] and visited the [[Great Geysir|Great Geyser]], and were the first scientific visitors to [[Staffa]] in the Inner Hebrides.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Agnarsdóttir |first=Anna |date=2020 |title=The young Joseph Banks: naturalist explorer and scientist, 1766–1772 |journal=Journal for Maritime Research |volume=21 |issue=1–2 |pages=23–44 |doi=10.1080/21533369.2020.1746090 |s2cid=219033761 |issn=2153-3369}}</ref> They returned to London in November, with many botanical specimens, via Edinburgh, where Banks and Solander were interviewed by [[James Boswell]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Facts and inventions : selections from the journalism of James Boswell |last1=Boswell |first1=James |last2=Tankard |first2=Paul |isbn=9780300141269 |oclc=861676836 |date=10 June 2014 |publisher=Yale University Press}}</ref> In 1773, he toured south Wales in the company of artist [[Paul Sandby]].<ref>Colley, Linda (2009), [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/nov/07/paul-sandby-exhibition-linda-colley "Men at arms"], ''The Guardian'', 7 November 2009.</ref> 

==Royal Botanic Gardens Kew==
Banks settled in London and began work on his ''Florilegium''. He kept in touch with most of the scientists of his time, was elected a foreign member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] in 1773.{{citation needed||date=September 2025}} Banks was appointed as an informal director to the [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|Royal Botanic Gardens Kew]] by [[George III]] in 1773. Banks sent the first Kew plant hunters around the world, including [[Francis Masson]], [[Allan Cunningham (botanist)|Allan Cunningham]] and [[James Bowie]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/adventure-and-discovery-around-the-world-with-plant-hunters |publisher=kew.org |title=Adventure and discovery around the world with the plant hunters }}</ref> Banks was elected to the Dilettante Society in 1774. He was afterwards secretary of this society from 1778 to 1797. On 30 November 1778, he was elected [[president of the Royal Society]],<ref name="ADB"/> a position he was to hold with great distinction for over 41 years.

[[File:Benjamin West (1738-1820) - Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820), 1st Bt, GCB, PRS - LCNUG 1989.9 - Usher Gallery.jpg|thumb |upright |''[[Portrait of Joseph Banks (West)|Portrait of Joseph Banks]]'' by [[Benjamin West]] in 1772]]

In March 1779, Banks married [[Lady Dorothea Banks|Dorothea Hugessen]], daughter of W. W. Hugessen, and settled in a large house at 32 [[Soho Square]].<ref name=Holmes/> It continued to be his London residence for the remainder of his life. There, he welcomed the scientists, students, and authors of his period, and many distinguished foreign visitors. His sister [[Sarah Sophia Banks]] lived in the house with Banks and his wife. He had as librarian and curator of his collections Solander, [[Jonas Carlsson Dryander]], and [[Robert Brown (Scottish botanist from Montrose)|Robert Brown]] in succession.<ref>{{cite book |title=The History of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew |first=Ray |last=Desmond |date=1995 |pages=104–106}}</ref> Also in 1779, Banks took a lease on an estate called Spring Grove, the former residence of Elisha Biscoe (1705–1776),<ref>Susan Reynolds (editor) ''Heston and Isleworth, A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3:'' Victoria County History, 1962</ref> which he eventually bought outright from Biscoe's son, also [[Charles Ambler (barrister)#Family|Elisha]], in 1808. Its 34 acres ran along the northern side of the London Road, [[Isleworth]], and contained a natural spring, which was an important attraction to him. Banks spent much time and effort on this secondary home. He steadily created a renowned botanical masterpiece on the estate, achieved primarily with many of the great variety of foreign plants he had collected on his extensive travels around the world, particularly to Australia and the South Seas. The surrounding district became known as [[Spring Grove, London|Spring Grove]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thorne |first=James |title=Lambourne-Yiewsley |date=1876 |publisher=John Murray}}</ref> The house was substantially extended and rebuilt by later owners and is now part of [[West Thames College]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.west-thames.ac.uk/media/com_dashboard/pdf/pt-o.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022231530/https://www.west-thames.ac.uk/media/com_dashboard/pdf/pt-o.pdf |archive-date=22 October 2021 |url-status=live |publisher=West Thames College |page=4 |access-date=23 October 2021 |title=West Thames College PART TIME, FULL TIME AND EVENING COURSES FOR ADULTS}}</ref>

[[File:Omai (Mai), Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Charles Solander by William Parry.jpg|thumb|left|Sir Joseph Banks (centre), together with [[Omai]] (left) and [[Daniel Solander]], painted by [[William Parry (artist)|William Parry]], circa 1775-1776]]
Banks was made a [[baronet]] in 1781,<ref name="ADB"/><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=12172 |date=20 March 1781 |page=5}}</ref> three years after being elected president of the Royal Society. During much of this time, he was an informal adviser to King George III and his position at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew was formalised in 1797. Banks continued to dispatch explorers and botanists to many parts of the world, and through these efforts, Kew Gardens became arguably the pre-eminent [[botanical garden]] in the world, with many species being introduced to Europe through them and through [[Chelsea Physic Garden]] and their head gardener John Fairbairn. He directly fostered several famous voyages, including that of [[George Vancouver]] to the northeastern Pacific ([[Pacific Northwest]]), and [[William Bligh]]'s voyages (one entailing the infamous [[Mutiny on the Bounty|mutiny on the ''Bounty'']]) to transplant [[breadfruit]] from the South Pacific to the Caribbean islands. Banks was also a major financial supporter of [[William Smith (geologist)|William Smith]] in his decade-long efforts to create a geological map of England, the first geological map of an entire country. He also chose [[Allan Cunningham (botanist)|Allan Cunningham]] for voyages to Brazil and the north and northwest coasts of Australia to collect specimens.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carter |first=H.B. |title=Sir Joseph Banks |date=1988 |publisher=British Museum: Natural History |isbn=0565009931 |pages=474–475}}</ref>

==Colonisation of New South Wales==
Banks's own time in Australia, however, led to his interest in the British [[colonisation]] of that continent. He was to be the greatest proponent of settlement in New South Wales. A genus of the [[Proteaceae]] was named in his honour as ''[[Banksia]]''.<ref name="ADB"/> In 1779, Banks, giving evidence before a committee of the House of Commons, had stated that in his opinion the place most eligible for the reception of [[Convictism in Australia|convicts]] "was Botany Bay, on the coast of [[New Holland (Australia)|New Holland]]", on the general grounds that, "it was not to be doubted that a Tract of Land such as New Holland, which was larger than the whole of Europe, would furnish Matter of advantageous Return".<ref>''Journals of the House of Commons,'' 19 Geo. III, 1779, Vol. 37, p. 311. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9BdDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA525]</ref>

Although Banks remained uninvolved in these colonies in a hands on manner, he was, nonetheless, the general adviser to the government on all Australian matters for twenty years. He arranged that a large number of useful trees and plants should be sent out in the supply ship {{HMS|Guardian|1784|6}}, which was unfortunately wrecked, as well as other ships; many of these were supplied by [[Hugh Ronalds]] from his nursery in [[Brentford]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|date=2017|title=Ronalds Nurserymen in Brentford and Beyond|jstor=44987945|journal=Garden History|volume=45|issue=1 |pages=82–100}}</ref> Every vessel that came from New South Wales brought to Banks plants or animals or geological and other specimens and, on at least one occasion, human remains. Governor [[Philip Gidley King]] sent Banks the severed head of an Aboriginal man named [[Pemulwuy]] that Banks had seemingly listed as among his "desiderata."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ashby |first1=J. |last2=Machin |first2=R. |title=Legacies of colonial violence in natural history collections |journal=Journal of Natural Science Collections |date=2021 |volume=8 |pages=44–54 |url=http://www.natsca.org/article/2631}}</ref>

He was continually called on for help in developing the agriculture and trade of the colony, and his influence was used in connection with the sending out of early free settlers, one of whom, a young gardener [[George Suttor]], later wrote a memoir of Banks. The three earliest governors of the colony, [[Arthur Phillip]], [[John Hunter (Royal Navy officer)|John Hunter]], and [[Philip Gidley King]], were in continual correspondence with him. Banks produced a significant body of papers, including one of the earliest Aboriginal Australian words lists compiled by a European.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/research-and-collections-significant-collections-sir-joseph-banks-papers-1767-1822/sir-joseph-1|title=Sir Joseph Banks Collection|date=29 June 2016|website=www.sl.nsw.gov.au|language=en|access-date=18 January 2017}}</ref> Bligh was also appointed governor of [[New South Wales]] on Banks's recommendation. Banks followed the explorations of [[Matthew Flinders]], [[George Bass]], and Lieutenant [[James Grant (navigator)|James Grant]], and among his paid helpers were [[George Caley]], Robert Brown, and Allan Cunningham.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

However, Banks backed [[William Bligh]] to be installed as the new governor of New South Wales and to crack down on the [[New South Wales Corps]] (or Rum Corps), which made a fortune on the trading of rum. This brought him in direct confrontation with post-Rum Rebellion ''de facto'' leaders such as [[John Macarthur (wool pioneer)|John Macarthur]] and [[George Johnston (British Marines officer)|George Johnston]]. This backing led to the [[Rum Rebellion]] in Sydney, whereby the governor was overthrown by the two men. This became an embarrassment for Sir Joseph Banks, also, because years earlier, he campaigned that John Macarthur not be granted {{convert|10,000|acres|ha|order=flip}} of land near Sydney in the cow pastures, which was later granted by Lord Camden. The next governor, [[Lachlan Macquarie]], was asked to arrest Macarthur and Johnston, only to realise that they had left Sydney for London to defend themselves. He was humiliated that Macarthur and Johnston were acquitted from all charges in London and both later returned to Sydney.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

==Later life==
[[File:The great south sea caterpillar, transform'd into a Bath butterfly.jpg|thumb|upright|In ''The great South Sea Caterpillar, transform'd into a Bath Butterfly'' (1795), [[James Gillray]] caricatured Banks's investiture with the [[Order of the Bath]] as a result of his expedition.]]
[[File:Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society.jpg|thumb|upright|left|This 1812 print depicts Banks as president of the Royal Society, wearing the insignia of the [[Order of the Bath]].]]

Banks met the young [[Alexander von Humboldt]] in 1790, when Banks was already the president of the Royal Society.<ref>[[#Wulf|Wulf]], p. 19.</ref> Before Humboldt and his scientific travel companion and collaborator [[Aimé Bonpland]] left for what became a five-year journal of exploration and discovery, Humboldt requested a British passport for Bonpland, should the two encounter British warships.<ref>[[#Wulf|Wulf]], p. 44.</ref> On their travels, Humboldt arranged for specimens be sent to Banks, should they be seized by the British.<ref>[[#Wulf|Wulf]], p. 76.</ref>  Banks and Humboldt remained in touch until Banks's death, aiding Humboldt by mobilising his wide network of scientific contacts to forward information to the great German scientist.<ref>[[#Wulf|Wulf]], p. 136.</ref> Both men believed in the internationalism of science.

Banks was elected a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1787<ref>{{Cite web|title=Joseph Banks|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Joseph+Banks|access-date=14 December 2020|website=American Philosophical Society Member History|publisher=[[American Philosophical Society]]}}</ref> and a foreign honorary member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1788.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=17 May 2011}}</ref> Among other activities, Banks found time to serve as a trustee of the British Museum for 42 years.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Anderson, R. G. W.|doi=10.1093/jhc/fhm040|title=Joseph Banks and the British Museum, The World of Collecting, 1770–1830|journal=Journal of the History of Collections|year=2008|volume=20|page=151}}</ref> He was [[high sheriff of Lincolnshire]] in 1794.

He worked with Sir [[George Leonard Staunton|George Staunton]] in producing the official account of the British mission to the [[Chinese Imperial court]]. This diplomatic and trade mission was headed by [[George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney|George, Earl Macartney]]. Although the [[Macartney Embassy]] returned to London without obtaining any concession from China, the mission could have been termed a success because it brought back detailed observations. This multivolume work was taken chiefly from the papers of Lord Macartney and from the papers of Sir [[Erasmus Gower]], who was commander of the expedition. Banks was responsible for selecting and arranging engraving of the illustrations in this official record.<ref>Banks, Joseph. Papers of Sir Joseph Banks; Section 12: Lord Macartney's embassy to China; [http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/banks/series_62/62_view.cfm Series 62: Papers concerning publication of the account of Lord Macartney's Embassy to China, ca 1797.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603234614/http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/banks/series_62/62_view.cfm |date=3 June 2017 }} [State Library of New South Wales.]</ref>

Banks was invested as a [[Knight of the Order of the Bath]] (KB) on 1 July 1795,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=13792 |date=30 June 1795 |page=688}}</ref> which became [[Knight Grand Cross]] (GCB) when the order was restructured in 1815.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=16972 |date=4 January 1815 |pages=17–20 }}</ref>

Banks was a large landowner and activist encloser, drainer and ‘improver’ in [[The Fens|Fens]] at [[Revesby, Lincolnshire|Revesby]].<ref>[[James Boyce (author)|James Boyce]] ''Imperial Mud: The Fight for the Fens'', Icon Books, 2020, p100.</ref>

Banks's health began to fail early in the 19th century and he suffered from [[gout]]<ref name="ADB"/> every winter. After 1805, he practically lost the use of his legs and had to be wheeled to his meetings in a chair, but his mind remained as vigorous as ever. He had been a member of the [[Society of Antiquaries of London|Society of Antiquaries]] nearly all his life, and he developed an interest in archaeology in his later years. In 1807, [[William Kerr (gardener)|William Kerr]] named the Lady Banks climbing rose after Banks's wife.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lady Banks Rose Growing: How To Plant A Lady Banks Rose |url=https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/roses/lady-banks-rose-growing.htm |website=Gardening KnowHow |date=10 February 2020 |access-date=9 August 2021}}</ref> Banks was made an honorary founding member of the [[Wernerian Natural History Society]] of [[Edinburgh]] in 1808. In 1809, he became associated member of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences|Royal Institute of the Netherlands]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00000655 |title=Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=19 July 2015}}</ref> In 1809, his friend [[Alexander Henry the elder|Alexander Henry]] dedicated his travel book to him. In May 1820, he forwarded his resignation as president of the Royal Society, but withdrew it at the request of the council. In 1819, [[Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen]], on his [[First Russian Antarctic Expedition]], briefly stopped in England and met Joseph Banks. Banks had sailed with [[James Cook]] 50 years earlier and supplied the Russians with books and charts for their expedition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://antarctic-logistics.com/2010/08/28/fabian-gottlieb-von-bellingshausen/|title=Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen|date=28 August 2010}}</ref> He died on 19 June 1820 in Spring Grove House, Isleworth, London, and was buried at [[St Leonard's Church, Heston]].<ref name="lewis">{{cite web |title=Herringfleet - Heston A Topographical Dictionary of England. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp491-497 |website=British History Online |publisher=S Lewis, London 1848 |access-date=25 January 2025}}</ref> Lady Banks survived him, but they had no children.<ref name="ADB"/>

== Legacy ==
[[File:BanksZSL.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.6|Banks's house (at right) was used for the offices of the [[Zoological Society of London]].]]

Banks was a major supporter of the internationalist nature of science, being actively involved both in keeping open the lines of communication with continental scientists during the [[Napoleonic Wars]], and in introducing the British people to the wonders of the wider world. He was honoured with many place names in the South Pacific: [[Banks Peninsula]] on the [[South Island]], New Zealand; the [[Banks Islands]] in modern-day [[Vanuatu]]; the Banks Strait between [[Tasmania]] and the [[Furneaux Islands]]; [[Banks Island]] in the [[Northwest Territories]], Canada; and the [[Sir Joseph Banks Group]] in South Australia.<ref>{{cite book | last=Flinders | first=Matthew | author-link=Matthew Flinders | title=A Voyage to Terra Australis : undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803 in His Majesty's ship the ''Investigator'', and subsequently in the armed vessel ''Porpoise'' and ''Cumberland Schooner''; with an account of the shipwreck of the ''Porpoise'', arrival of the ''Cumberland'' at Mauritius, and imprisonment of the commander during six years and a half in that island. | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12929/pg12929-images.html | access-date=14 August 2025 | edition=Facsimile | year=1966 | orig-year=1814 | publisher=Libraries Board of South Australia | location=Adelaide; Reprint of: London : G. and W. Nicol, 1814 ed. In two volumes, with an Atlas (3 volumes) | page=234}}</ref>

The [[Canberra]] suburb of [[Banks, Australian Capital Territory|Banks]], the electoral [[Division of Banks]], and the Sydney suburbs of [[Bankstown, New South Wales|Bankstown]], [[Banksia, New South Wales|Banksia]], and [[Banksmeadow]] are all named after him, as is the northern headland of [[Botany Bay]], Cape Banks.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}} A number of schools and colleges are also named after him, including the Sir Joseph Banks High School in the Sydney suburb of [[Revesby, New South Wales|Revesby]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Margerison |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EUQW1p4tYgkC&q=sir+Joseph+Banks+High+School+named&pg=PT179 |title=Amazing Scientists: Inspirational Stories |date=19 April 2011 |publisher=Amazing People Club |isbn=978-1-921752-40-7 |language=en}}</ref> and the [[Joseph Banks Secondary College]] opened in [[Perth]], Western Australia in 2015.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Message From The Principal |url=https://jbsc.wa.edu.au/about-us/a-message-from-the-principal/ |access-date=4 January 2021 |website=Joseph Banks Secondary College}}</ref>

An image of Banks was featured on the paper $5 [[Banknotes of the Australian dollar|Australian banknote]] from its introduction in 1967 before it was replaced by the later polymer currency.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://banknotes.rba.gov.au/australias-banknotes/other-banknotes/|title=Other Banknotes|publisher=[[Reserve Bank of Australia]]|access-date=16 December 2020}}</ref>

In 1986, Banks was honoured by his portrait being depicted on a postage stamp issued by [[Australia Post]].<ref>[http://www.australianstamp.com/images/large/0015730.jpg Australian 90c postal stamp]. JPG image.</ref>

In [[Lincoln, Lincolnshire|Lincoln]], England, the [[Sir Joseph Banks Conservatory]] was constructed in 1989 at [[The Lawn, Lincoln]]; its tropical [[Greenhouse|hot house]] had numerous plants related to Banks's voyages, with samples from across the world, including Australia. The conservatory was moved to Woodside Wildlife Park in 2016 and has been named 'Endeavour'.  A plaque was installed in [[Lincoln Cathedral]] in his honour. In [[Boston, Lincolnshire]], Banks was recorder for the town. His portrait, painted in 1814 by [[Thomas Phillips]], was commissioned by the Corporation of Boston, as a tribute to one whose 'judicious and active exertions improved and enriched this borough and neighbourhood'. It cost them 100 guineas. The portrait is now hanging in the Council Chamber of the [[Boston Guildhall|Guildhall Museum]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Correia |first=Alice |date=1 September 2020 |title='Respectable Exotics': Exhibiting South Asian Modernists in Britain, 1958 and 2017 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14714787.2020.1852887 |journal=Visual Culture in Britain |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=310–329 |doi=10.1080/14714787.2020.1852887 |s2cid=231821993 |issn=1471-4787|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Sir Joseph Banks Centre is located in [[Horncastle, Lincolnshire]], housed in a Grade II [[listed building]], which was recently restored by the Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire to celebrate Banks's life. Horncastle is located a few miles from Banks's Revesby estate and the naturalist was the town's lord of the manor. The centre is located on Bridge Street. It boasts research facilities, historic links to Australia, and a garden in which rare plants can be viewed and purchased.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

At the 2011 [[Chelsea Flower Show]], an exhibition garden celebrated the historic link between Banks and the botanical discoveries of flora and fauna on his journey through South America, Tahiti, New Zealand, and eventually Australia on Captain Cook's ship ''Endeavour''. The competition garden was the entry of [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne|Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens]] with an Australian theme. It was based on the metaphorical journey of water through the continent, related to the award-winning Australian Garden at the [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne]]. The design won a gold medal.<ref name="Chelsea Show win">{{cite news | url=http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/in-full-bloom-at-chelsea-20110524-1f2et.html| title=In full bloom at Chelsea | newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=25 May 2011 | access-date=25 May 2011 | author=Gadd, Denise}}</ref>

In 1911, [[London County Council]] marked Banks's house at 32 Soho Square with a [[blue plaque]]. This was replaced in 1938 with a rectangular stone plaque commemorating Banks and botanists [[David Don]] and [[Robert Brown (Scottish botanist from Montrose)|Robert Brown]] and meetings of the [[Linnean Society]].<ref name='EngHet'>{{cite web| url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/32-soho-square|title=BANKS, SIR JOSEPH (1743–1820), BROWN, ROBERT (1773–1858), DON, DAVID (1800–1841)|publisher=English Heritage| access-date=5 January 2016}}</ref>

Banks appears in the historical novel ''[[Mutiny on the Bounty (novel)|Mutiny on the Bounty]]'', by [[Charles Nordhoff]] and [[James Norman Hall]]. He appears briefly as a contact with British naval intelligence in the historical novel [[Post Captain (novel)|''Post Captain'']], from the [[Aubrey–Maturin series]] by [[Patrick O'Brian]]. He is also featured in [[Elizabeth Gilbert]]'s 2013 best-selling novel, ''[[The Signature of All Things]]'', and is a major character in Martin Davies' 2005 novel ''[[The Conjuror's Bird]]''.

Banks's life and influence were explored in a documentary five-part television series ''The Lost World of Joseph Banks'' in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016 |title=The Lost World of Joseph Banks |url=https://www.pilotguides.com/tv-shows/empires-plant-hunter-the-life-and-times-of-joseph-banks/ |website=Pilot Guides}}</ref>

Banks's account of the ''Endeavour's'' approach to Botany Bay might have been the basis for the [[invisible ships]] myth.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Hustwitt |first=J. R. |title=Interreligious hermeneutics and the pursuit of truth |date=2014 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-8739-5 |location=Lanham, Md.}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Ball |first=Philip |title=Invisible: the dangerous allure of the unseen |date=2015 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-23889-0 |location=Chicago}}</ref>

Herbarium specimens collected by Banks and Solander are cared for in herbaria, including at the [[National Herbarium of Victoria]] (MEL), [[Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria]]<ref name="MEL">{{Cite web| url = https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=collector_text%3A%22Banks%2C+J.%22+AND+collection_uid%3Aco55#tab_recordsView| title = AVH: The Australasian Virtual Herbarium| website = Atlas of Living Australia| access-date = 15 November 2024}}</ref>
{{botanist|Banks|Banks, Joseph}}

==Dispersal of Banks's papers==
Following Banks's death in 1820 a "treasure-trove of letters and papers"<ref name="fishburn">Matthew Fishburn, [https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/book-joseph-banks-burned The book that Joseph Banks burned], sl.nsw.gov.au; first published in ''SL Magazine'', Summer 2017–18. Retrieved 26 September 2022.</ref> was passed to [[Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet|Sir Edward Knatchbull]], his wife's nephew. In 1828 the latter passed bound volumes of foreign correspondence to the British Library but retained the rest of the papers in the expectation that an official biography would be written.<ref name="papers">[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-222963290/findingaid Papers of Sir Joseph Banks], nla.gov.au. Retrieved 26 September 2022.</ref> After the death of Knatchbull and his wife, the letters and papers were passed on to their son Edward Knatchbull Hugesson, 1st Baron Brabourne, who offered to sell them to the [[British Museum]].<ref name="papers" /> However, in 1884 it declined to purchase them.<ref name="fishburn" /> Following that "notorious"<ref name="fishburn" /> decision the Agent General of New South Wales, [[Saul Samuel|Sir Saul Samuel]], issued instructions for the purchase of a large portion of the papers, which now form part of the [[State Library of New South Wales]]'s Brabourne Collection.<ref>[https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/647552 Papers (Brabourne Collection), (c. 1769-1820) (microform)], nla.gov.au. Retrieved 26 September 2022.</ref> The "large quantities of papers" which remained were then auctioned off at Sotheby's in London in March and April 1886.<ref name="fishburn" /> One of the successful bidders was [[Edward Petherick|E. A. Petherick]]. Many of those are now in the Petherick Collection at the [[National Library of Australia]].<ref>[https://www.nla.gov.au/selected-library-collections/petherick-collection Petherick Collection], nla.gov.au. Retrieved 26 September 2022.</ref> During the twentieth century the National Library continued to purchase Banks's letters and papers when they came on the market.

==Online archive==
In his ''Endeavour'' journal, Banks recorded 30 years of his life. Letters, invoices, maps, regalia, and watercolour drawings have now been digitised on the [[State Library of New South Wales|State Library of NSW]] website. This rich research and educational tool provides access to 8800 high-quality digital images.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hunt|first=Susan|date=Autumn 2018|title=Sir Joseph Banks Online Archive|journal=SL Magazine|volume=11: 1|pages=44–45}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[European and American voyages of scientific exploration]]
* [[List of Freemasons|List of Notable Freemasons]]
* [[History of Australia]]
* [[List of presidents of the Royal Society]]

==References==
{{Reflist|28em|refs=
<ref name = "O'Brian">[[Patrick O'Brian|O'Brian, Patrick]] (1993) [https://books.google.com/books?id=p0lB4qYDvGgC ''Joseph Banks: A Life.''] London: [[David R. Godine]], pp. 23–24, {{ISBN|0-87923-930-1}}.</ref>
<ref name=Holmes>{{cite book | last=Holmes | first=Richard | title=The age of wonder : how the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science | chapter=Joseph Banks in Paradise |publisher=Pantheon Books | publication-place=New York | year=2008 | isbn=978-1-4000-3187-0 | oclc=264044731|pages=1–54}}</ref>

<ref name=Lysaght>Lysaght, Averil M. (1971) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZPg9AAAAMAAJ ''Joseph Banks in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1766''] Berkeley: [[University of California Press]], p. 168, {{ISBN|0-520-01780-3}}.</ref>

}}

==Cited sources==
*{{cite book|ref=Wulf|author=Wulf, Andrea |title=The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World|place=New York|publisher= Alfred A. Knopf |year=2015|isbn=978-0385350662}}

==Further reading==

===Primary resources===
*[https://www.library.ca.gov/sutro/ Sutro Library], a branch of the [[California State Library]]. [https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8959mrr/ Sir Joseph Banks Collection, 1770-1812.]
*[[State Library of New South Wales]]. Papers of Sir Joseph Banks and [http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/banks/contents.html The ''Endeavour'' Journal of Joseph Banks, 1768–1771]
*[[National Library of Australia]] (NLA). [http://nla.gov.au/nla.ms-ms9 Papers of Sir Joseph Banks]
*[[Royal Geographical Society of South Australia]] [http://www.rgssa.org.au Journal of a voyage to Newfoundland and Labrador commencing 7 April and ending 17 November 1766]
* Notebooks containing vocabularies of Tahitian languages and observations collected by Banks are held by [http://archives.soas.ac.uk/CalmView/Overview.aspx SOAS Special Collections] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210919082915/http://archives.soas.ac.uk/CalmView/Overview.aspx |date=19 September 2021 }}. Digitised items from the collection are available to view online [https://digital.soas.ac.uk/results/?t=banks,%22Banks+Joseph+1743-1820+1743-1820%22,%22Banks%20Joseph%201743-1820%201743-1820%22&f=ZZ,AU,AU here].

===Secondary resources===
* Cameron, H. C. (1952) ''Sir Joseph Banks, K.B., P.R.S.; the Autocrat of the Philosophers'', Batchworth Press.
*Carter, H. B. (1964) ''His Majesty's Spanish Flock: Sir Joseph Banks and the Merinos of George III of England'', University of Sydney.
* Carter, Harold Burnell (1988) ''Sir Joseph Banks, 1743–1820'' London: [[Natural History Museum, London|British Museum of Natural History]] {{ISBN|0-565-00993-1}};
* {{cite book | last = Chambers | first = Neil | title = Joseph Banks and the British Museum: the world of collecting, 1770-1830 | publisher = Pickering & Chatto | location = London | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1851968589 | oclc=1028009661}}
*Dawson, W. R. (ed) (1958) ''The Banks Letters'', University of London.
* Durt, Tania (2007) "Joseph Banks", pp.&nbsp;173–181 in ''The Great Naturalists'', edited by Robert Huxley. London: Thames & Hudson with the Natural History Museum.
*[[Edward Duyker|Duyker, Edward]] (1998) ''Nature's Argonaut: Daniel Solander 1733-1782: Naturalist and Voyager with Cook and Banks''. Melbourne University Press. {{ISBN|0-522-84753-6}}
* Marshall, John Braybrooke. "Daniel Carl Solander, Friend, Librarian and Assistant to Sir Joseph Banks." Archives of Natural History 11.3 (1984): 451–456.
*Duyker, Edward & Tingbrand, Per (ed. & trans) (1995) Daniel Solander: Collected Correspondence 1753–1782, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, pp.&nbsp;466, {{ISBN|0-522-84636-X}}  Scandinavian University Press, Oslo, 1995, pp.&nbsp;466, {{ISBN|82-00-22454-6}}
* Fara, Patricia (2004) ''Sex, Botany & Empire: The Story Of Carl Linnaeus And Joseph Banks.'' New York: Columbia University Press {{ISBN|0-231-13426-6}}
* Gascoigne, John (1994) ''Joseph Banks and the English Enlightenment: Useful Knowledge and Polite Culture'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press {{ISBN|0-521-54211-1}}
* Gascoigne, John (1998) ''Science in the Service of Empire: Joseph Banks, The British State and the Uses of Science in the Age of Revolution.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press {{ISBN|0-521-55069-6}}
*{{Cite book
 | last1=Hawkesworth | first1=John   | author-link1=John Hawkesworth (book editor)
 | last2=Byron       | first2=John   | author-link2=John Byron
 | last3=Wallis      | first3=Samuel | author-link3=Samuel Wallis
 | last4=Carteret    | first4=Philip | author-link4=Philip Carteret
 | last5=Cook        | first5=James  | author-link5=James Cook
 | last6=Banks       | first6=Joseph | author-link6=Joseph Banks
 | title=An account of the voyages undertaken by the order of His present Majesty for making discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, and successively performed by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret, and Captain Cook, in the Dolphin, the Swallow, and the Endeavour drawn up from the journals which were kept by the several commanders, and from the papers of Joseph Banks, esq 
 | date=1773
 | publisher=London Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell
}}, Volume I, [http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/hv23/contents.html Volume II-III]
* Kryza, Frank T. (207) ''The Race to Timbuktu: In Search of Africa's City of Gold.'' New York: HarperCollins {{ISBN|0-06-056065-7}}
*Lysaght, A. M. (1971). Joseph Banks in Newfoundland and Labrador, 1766; his diary, manuscripts, and collections. Faber and Faber, London. {{ISBN|0-571-09351-5}};
*Mackaness, G. (1936) ''Sir Joseph Banks. His Relations with Australia'', University of Sydney
*Maiden, J. H. (1909) Sir Joseph Banks: The “Father of Australia”.&nbsp; Kegan Paul.
*{{cite book|last=Musgrave|first=Toby|title=The Multifarious Mr. Banks: From Botany Bay to Kew, the Natural Historian Who Shaped the World|publisher=Yale University Press|date=2020|isbn=978-0-300-22383-5}}
* [[Patrick O'Brian|O'Brian, Patrick]] 1993 ''Joseph Banks: A Life.'' London: David R. Godine, 1993. {{ISBN|0-87923-930-1}}, reprinted by University of Chicago Press, 1997 {{ISBN|0-226-61628-2}}
* ——— 1987 ''Sir Joseph Banks'' London: Harvill Press. {{ISBN|0-00-272340-9}}
* Smith, Edward (1911) Life of Sir Joseph Banks: With Some Notices of his Friends and Contemporaries.&nbsp; John Lane.

====Select unpublished monographs====

* Duncan, A. (1821) ''A Short Account of the Life of the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks'', University of Edinburgh.
* [[Lionel Gilbert|Gilbert, L.]] (1962) ''Botanical Investigation of Eastern Seaboard Australia, 1788–1810'', B.A. thesis, University of New England, Australia.

====Fiction====
Novels based on a mix of historical fact and conjecture about Banks's early life include:

* Davies, Martin (2005) ''The Conjurer's Bird'' New York: [[Shaye Areheart]]/Random House. {{ISBN|1-4000-9733-9}}

==External links==
{{commons category multi|Joseph Banks|Banksia}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{wikispecies}}
* {{Gutenberg Australia |id=plusfifty-a-m.html#banks |name=Joseph Banks |author=yes}}
* [http://books2.scholarsportal.info/viewdoc.html?id=/ebooks/oca1/27/journalofrightho00bankuoft Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks during Captain Cook's first voyage in H.M.S. Endeavour in 1768–71 to Terra del Fuego, Otahite, New Zealand, Australia, the Dutch East Indies, etc.] Joseph Banks and J. D. Hooker. Macmillan, 1896.
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=2251 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']
* [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/HistSciTech.BanksJ ''Correspondence concerning Iceland: written to Sir Joseph Banks''], 1772–1818, from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
* Lovell, Jennifer. "[http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2005/apr05/article4.html A Bath Butterfly Botany and Eighteenth Century Sexual Politics]." ''National Library of Australia News'' 15.7 (April 2005).
* Sir Joseph Banks Society. "[http://www.joseph-banks.org.uk/archive/ Archive of Joseph Banks related material] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421160910/http://www.joseph-banks.org.uk/archive/ |date=21 April 2016 }}"
* British Museum: [http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/b/bronze_portrait_bust_of_sir_jo.aspx Bronze portrait bust of Sir Joseph Banks by Anne Seymour Damer] (1814)
* BBC: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/banks_sir_joseph.shtml Historic figures]; [[BBC Radio 4]]: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/scienceatsea/pip/3z13m/  Science at Sea]
* {{NRA|P1430}}
* [http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/banks/ Papers of Sir Joseph Banks] – [[State Library of New South Wales]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160416151241/http://www.fatefulvoyage.com/2bligh/index.html William Bligh's letters to Sir Joseph Banks] concerning the first Breadfruit Expedition
* [http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0058 Sir Joseph Banks papers (MS 58)]. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
*{{Librivox author |id=13209}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|gb-bt}}
{{s-new| creation}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Banks baronets|Baronet]]<br />'''(of Revesby Abbey)''' | years=1781–1820}}
{{s-non|reason=Extinct}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-npo|pro}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet|John Pringle]]}}
{{s-ttl|order=21st|title=[[Royal Society|President of the Royal Society]]|years=1778–1820}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William Hyde Wollaston]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Royal Society presidents 1700s}}
{{Captain James Cook}}
{{Natural history}}
{{PGLE}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Joseph}}
[[Category:English botanists]]
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[[Category:Botanical collectors active in Australia]]
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[[Category:Botanists active in South America]]
[[Category:Botanists active in the Pacific]]
[[Category:English explorers of the Pacific]]
[[Category:Explorers of Australia]]
[[Category:Freemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London]]
[[Category:High sheriffs of Lincolnshire]]
[[Category:Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]]
[[Category:Soho Square]]
[[Category:Trustees of the British Museum]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:People educated at Harrow School]]
[[Category:18th-century English botanists]]
[[Category:18th-century English explorers]]
[[Category:People from East Lindsey District]]
[[Category:Participants in James Cook's voyages]]
[[Category:People from Soho]]
[[Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities]]
[[Category:18th-century English naturalists]]