The Bankes family were prominent landed gentry in Dorset, England, for over 400 years. They owned large portions of land throughout Dorset and made significant contributions to the political history and development of the country.
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The Bankes family were prominent landed gentry in Dorset, England, for over 400 years. They owned large portions of land throughout Dorset and made significant contributions to the political history and development of the country.
The first family seat was in Corfe Castle which was destroyed during the civil war when the Bankeses, who were cavaliers (royalist followers), were besieged by parliament forces. After the return of King Charles II the Bankeses again rose to political power. Their new home, built at Kingston Lacy has survived until the present day, under the guide of the National Trust. The family vault is located in the Church of Wimborne Minster, not far from their Kingston Lacy estate. In the late 19th century the Bankeses built a summer beach house at Studland in Dorset. The manor house as it used to be named is named is now a hotel called The Pig on the Beach. A large pub in the village, frequented by beach visitors, is known as the Bankes Arms Inn.
The family church, St Stephen's is on the far edge of the Kingston Lacy estate at Pamphill. The road up to the church is lined with a row of trees planted in 1846. The 19th century rebuild of the church replaced a decaying ruin of a church that had existed since 1229. The church has several monuments dedicated to the Bankes family, as well as a window and five pews decorated with the family coat of arms.
Records go back to John Bankes, born 1569, who fathered Sir John Bankes. The most notable members of the Bankes family are as follows:
The arms of the Bankes family of Kingston Lacy are: Sable, a cross engrailed ermine between four fleur-de-lys or. [2] This is a differenced version of the arms of the 14th century family of Bank of Bank Newton, Craven, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, namely: Sable, a cross or between four fleurs-de-lys argent. [3]
Kingston Lacy is a country house and estate near Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England. It was for many years the family seat of the Bankes family who lived nearby at Corfe Castle until its destruction in the English Civil War after its incumbent owners, Sir John Bankes and Dame Mary, had remained loyal to Charles I.
Kingston Russell House is a large mansion house and manor near Long Bredy in Dorset, England, west of Dorchester. The present house dates from the late 17th century but in 1730 was clad in a white Georgian stone facade. The house was restored in 1913, and at the same time the gardens were laid out.
Mary, Lady Bankes was a Royalist who defended Corfe Castle from a three-year siege during the English Civil War from 1643 to 1645. She was married to Sir John Bankes, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and Attorney-General of King Charles I.
Sir John Bankes was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1624 and 1629. He was Attorney General and Chief Justice to Charles I during the English Civil War. Corfe Castle, his family seat was destroyed during a long siege, in which his wife Mary Hawtrey became known as Brave Dame Mary.
Sir Ralph Bankes (1631–1677) was a courtier of the restored Charles II and a knighted member of the Privy Chamber. He was the builder of Kingston Lacy, the restored seat of the Bankes family, designed by architect Sir Roger Pratt.
William John Bankes was an English politician, explorer, Egyptologist and adventurer.
St Stephen's is the parish church of Pamphill in Dorset, England.
Nicholas Wadham of Merryfield in the parish of Ilton, Somerset, and Edge in the parish of Branscombe, Devon, was a posthumous co-founder of Wadham College, Oxford, with his wife Dorothy Wadham who, outliving him, saw the project through to completion in her late old age. He was Sheriff of Somerset in 1585.
John Wynne was Bishop of St Asaph (1715–1727) and of Bath and Wells (1727–1743), having previously been principal of Jesus College, Oxford (1712–1720).
Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The first phase was one of the earliest castles in England to be built at least partly using stone when the majority were built with earth and timber. Corfe Castle underwent major structural changes in the 12th and 13th centuries.
John Bond was a British barrister and politician.
Henry Bankes (1757–1834) was an English politician and writer.
George Bankes was the last of the Cursitor Barons of the Exchequer, the office being abolished by Conservative ministry of the Earl of Derby in 1852. Without any legal experience at the bar, he was the last barrister to be appointed to the post considered to be a medieval anachronism.
John Tregonwell of Anderson Manor, Dorset was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1659 and 1679.
Soughton Hall is a Grade II* listed country house hotel in Sychdyn, Flintshire, Wales. Notable guests that have stayed include Luciano Pavarotti, Michael Jackson and King Juan Carlos I of Spain. William John Bankes inherited Soughton Hall in the 1815.
Sir John Eldon Bankes, was a Welsh judge of the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, and later a Lord Justice of Appeal.
John Bankes of Kingston Lacy, Dorset, was a British Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1722 to 1741.
Henry John Ralph Bankes JP, known simply as Ralph Bankes, was a British landowner and Lord High Admiral of Purbeck.
John Bankes was a British Tory politician, who served as Member of Parliament for Corfe Castle.
Henry Bankes was a British lawyer and politician, who served as Member of Parliament for Corfe Castle.