BRIEF PERSONAL NOTES. 
Joseph Banks, who was born at Argyle-street, London, on 13th 
February, 1743 (2nd February, O.S.), was the only son of William 
Banks-Hodgkenson,* of Revesby Abbey, Lincolnshire, by his wife 
Sophia, daughter of William Bate. He was descendant of a York- 
shire family which was wont to write itself Banke, and was long 
settled at Banke-Newton in the wapentake of Staincliffe. 
The second son of a certain Henry Banke, of Banke-Newton, 
acquired, by marriage. Beck Hall, in Giggleswick, and by his great 
grandson, the first Joseph Bankes, Revesby Abbey was purchased 
towards the close of the 17th Century. His son (also Joseph) sat in 
Parliament for Peterborough, and was Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1736. 
The second (and eldest surviving) son of the member for Peterborough 
•The following supplements the above statement somewhat; — 
His family is said to have been of noble Swedish extraction, and the first of whom we find any 
account was Simon Banks, who in the reign of Edward the Third married the daughter and heiress 
of Catterton, of Newton, Yorkshire. From him descended Robert Banks, who in the reigns of 
Elizabeth and James the First, was an eminent attorney at Giggleswick, and whose sons distin 
guished themselves on the King's side during the civil wars. Since that period Sir Joseph Banks’ 
family has intermarried with the families of Frankland, Hancock, Whichcote, Hodgkinson, Cecil, 
and Pelham. The Hodgkinson’s name was borne by his father, an estimable country gentleman, 
residing at his seat in Lincolnshire, Revesby .\bbey, about 22 miles E.S.E. of Lincoln, and seated 
on high ground among fens, over which it has a most extensive prospect.” (" Memoirs, Historical 
and Scientific, of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks,” by George Suttor, F.L.S., 1855, p. 26.) 
The following note concerning Revesby .\bbey is taken from the Cen'len.an’s Magazine of 
December, 1821, and was very kindly communicated to Mr. E. S. Smithurst, Honorary Secretary 
of the Flag Committee, British Empire League, Sydney, by the Revd. Paul Ogiivie Ashby, 
Vicar of Revesby : — 
" The annexed engraving (see r. xx) is a view of Revesby Abbey, county Lincoln, lately 
the seat of the Right Honorable Sir Joseph Banks, of whom an interesting memoir is given in 
Vol. XC, Part 1, p. 86. This seat was built by Craven Howard, Esq., nephew and heir of Henry 
Howard, Esq., but has been much enlarged by the family of Banks. Part of an ancient mansion, 
formerly the residence of the abbots of Revesby, now forms the offices. 
“ The parish of Revesby is situated in the west division of the Soke of Bolingbroke, and is 
about 6 miles from Homcastle. In the year 1142 William de Rumara, Earl of Lincoln, founded 
an Abbey of Cistercian Monks, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. Laurence, and endowed, at 
the Suppression, with £287 2s. 4d. per annum. Besides the endowment of William de Romara, 
the monastery was enriched by numerous other benefactors. It is now entirely demolished. 
30 Henry VLLI the site was granted to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. On the division of his 
extensive possessions among his heirs general, Revesby fell to the lot of the Carsey family, who, 
after residing here several years, sold it to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, from whom it descended 
to the Earl of Exeter. The second Earl settled it on his grandson, Henry Howard, the third son 
of the Earl of Berkshire. About a century ago it was sold by the Howards to Joseph Banks, Esq., 
the great grandfather of the late worthy Baronet. It was this same Mr. Joseph Banks who rebuilt 
the church, and by his will directed the building of ten almshouses for ten poor people, endowing 
the same with fifty pounds a year.” 
b 
