THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR JOSEPH BANKS, BARONET.
The subject of this memoir was born in London on the 13th of December, 1743. He was the only son of William Banks, Esquire, of Revesby, who died in 1761, leaving him, at the age of eighteen, possessed of an ample fortune. He was at that time a member of the University of Oxford; and it was in the retirement of collegiate studies that he acquired his taste for natural history.
Immediately on his leaving the University, in 1763, he made a voyage to the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, and returned with those habits of investigation which are induced by a contemplation of rare and novel objects.
Having become a member of the Royal Society, his desire for further investigation of new worlds was again excited by the plan proposed by that learned body, for observing the expected transit of Venus, from one of the South Sea islands. No sooner did Mr. Banks understand that the Endeavour, commanded by Captain (then Lieutenant) Cook, was equipping for her voyage, and intended to prosecute further discovery after the observation of the transit, than he determined to embark in the expedition. Mr. Banks entered upon his preparations with a most generous spirit; providing himself with two draughtsmen, a secretary, and four servants, together with all the necessary books, and instruments. He was also accompanied by Dr. Solander, a Swedish gentleman, who had been the pupil of Linnæus.
On the 26th of August, 1768, the Endeavour sailed from Plymouth, on this great expedition. In the passage to Madeira, Mr. Banks and his companions discovered many marine animals, which no naturalist had described. At Madeira, and as they sailed on to Rio Janeiro, their vigilance was still eagerly awake, and sufficiently gratified by observations and specimens new to science. The jealousy of the Portuguese greatly disappointed their curiosity, by forbidding their researches at Rio Janeiro.
On Wednesday, April 12, 1769, the Endeavour arrived at Otaheite. For three months the voyagers continued at this and the contiguous isles, making the astronomical observations, for the sake chiefly of which Lieutenant Cook was sent out; surveying, as navigators, the coasts of the different isles; collecting specimens of the natural productions peculiar to them; and studying the language, manners, and arts of the islanders.
In August, 1769, the Endeavour sailed from the last isle of the group. In October they made New Zealand, which had not been visited since Tasman’s voyage. They next sailed to New Holland, chiefly along the East coast, and gave the name of New South Wales to the adjacent territory. The ship here struck upon a rock, and was saved only by extraordinary skill. In laying her down for repairs the sea broke in, and spoiled the greater part of Mr. Banks’s specimens of natural history: but he was recompensed by the discovery of the kangaroo. In August, 1770, they sailed for New Guinea. On their homeward voyage, their short stay at Batavia was nearly fatal to the expedition. Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander caught the fever. Tupia, a priest, and a boy named Tayeto, both from Otaheite, who were proceeding to England, died. Every person of the crew but one was taken ill. Seven died at Batavia, and twenty-three more within six weeks after. On the 12th of June, 1771, the vessel anchored in the downs.
Early in 1772 an expedition was prepared under the command of Captain Cook, to proceed in search of the so much talked of Southern Continent, in which Mr. Banks most anxiously took a part, intending to perform the voyage; and he accordingly prepared his establishment upon the most extensive scale. On this account orders were given by the Admiralty for fitting the ships out with every possible accommodation that Mr. Banks could desire; but when the Resolution sailed from Long Reach for Plymouth, she was found so very crank, from the additional upper works, that she was obliged to be carried into Sheerness to have the additional cabins cut away, with such other alterations as were necessary to make her sea-worthy. This of course struck at the very root of Mr. Banks’s project, in curtailing him of the space and accommodation absolutely necessary for the establishment which he had formed; and he was reluctantly compelled to give up his plans.
Disappointed in this expedition, Mr. Banks was prompted to engage in some other active research, and accordingly determined on a voyage to Iceland and the western islands of Scotland; partly for the purpose of scientific observation, and, as Van Troil states, who accompanied him, in order to keep together and employ the draughtsmen, and other persons, who had been engaged for the South Sea expedition.
They sailed from the river in July, and called at Portsmouth, thence to Plymouth, and proceeded up St. George’s Channel, to the Western Islands, visiting Oransay, Columbkill, Scarba, and Staffa, so remarkable for its basaltic columns, but until then comparatively unknown. They passed the Orkneys and Shetland islands without any particular investigation; and on the 28th of August, 1772, arrived off the coast of Iceland. After completely investigating every thing curious, they left Iceland, and arrived at Edinburgh in November, from whence they set off by land for London.
After his return Mr. Banks passed his time principally in London, or at his paternal seat at Revesby, surrounded by men of letters, and by persons of the first rank and fortune; and dedicating his time and fortune to scientific pursuits.
Sir John Pringle having retired from the office of President of the Royal Society in 1777, Mr. Banks was called to fill the vacant chair, when his ample fortune enabled him to commence a system by which his house became, through a long series of years, a scene of hospitality, to genius of every country, and of every rank in society.
The close attention which the President now paid to the duties of his station, induced him to select a rural retirement nearer to London than his seat at Revesby; he therefore, in the year 1779, took a lease of the premises, which he afterwards purchased, at Spring Grove, in the parish of Heston, in Middlesex; and on the 29th of March in the same year, he married Dorothea, daughter and co-heiress of William Weston Hugeson, Esquire, of Provender, in the parish of Norton, county of Kent.
In 1781, Mr. Banks was honored by his Sovereign with a baronetcy; as he was some years afterwards, by being created a Knight of the Bath, and sworn one of his Majesty’s Honorable Privy Counsel.
Sir Joseph was re-elected to the Presidency of the Royal Society, for several years, with an unanimous feeling; but the jealousies of some members of splendid and commanding talents began to be developed. It was charged against him, that in the recommendation of candidates, he bowed rather to the pretensions of rank, than to the unobtrusive, but undoubted claims of eminent ability. This feeling so far extended itself, that in 1784, a dignitary of the church, distinguished for his mathematical learning, threatened a secession in the following terms:—“If other remedies fail, we can at least secede. When the hour of secession comes, the President will be left with his train of feeble amateurs, and that toy upon the table, the ghost of that society in which Philosophy once reigned, and Newton presided as her minister.” The very temper of this burst of eloquence is a proof of the causes of the schism. The pride of genius was opposed to the pride of rank, and the conflict was as obstinate as it was violent. The President maintained his position firmly, and he lived to behold that intimate union which ought ever to exist between the patrons and the votaries of learning.
Beside devoting his attention to the duties of the chair of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph became an active member of all the public societies of the day; and to his care in a great degree the African Association owes its origin. He also liberally encouraged and assisted those who undertook voyages or travels of discovery. In his attentions to the breeding of sheep and cattle, and to the improvements in husbandry, he gave many instances of scientific patriotism; and to his exertions may be attributed the drainage of the Fens in the immediate vicinity of Revesby. To the Horticultural society, which he assisted in forming, he was a contributor of several papers. In politics he took no ostensible part, and had not even a seat in parliament.
During the latter years of his life, Sir Joseph was so severely afflicted with the gout, as to be deprived of the use of his lower extremities, and consequently unable to take his accustomed exercise. In 1817 he was by death deprived of his sister, a loss which he severely felt. In April, 1820, in consequence of increasing debility, he expressed a wish to resign his office of President of the Royal Society, but this resignation the society were unwilling to accept of, and he continued to hold the office until his death, which took place on the 19th of the following month. His remains were interred in the church yard at Heston. Having no issue, his title is extinct. After the death of his widow, his estates in Lincolnshire go to the Honorable James Hamilton Stanhope, and Sir Henry Hawley, Baronet; the remainder of his estates to Sir Edward Knatchbull, Baronet. His valuable and extensive library he bequeathed to the British Museum.
KIRKSTEAD.
Kirkstead, anciently called Cristed, is situated on the east bank of the Witham, in the hundred of Gartree, and is about three miles distant from Tattershall, and eight from Horncastle. Formerly it was a hamlet of Kirkby super Bane, but for many years it has been considered as a separate parish.
The manor, with that of Tattershall, was among the several estates given by the conqueror to Eudo, one of his Norman followers. His son Hugh fitz Eudo, called the Breton, founded a Cistertian Abbey here in 1139, and endowed it with his possessions in this place. Afterwards the monks, considering the situation unhealthy, petitioned Robert, the son of the founder, to allow them to remove the abbey to some other place; but though they obtained permission, yet it does not appear that the affair was proceeded in any further. The abbey had subsequently many benefactors, and acquired very extensive possessions.
At the dissolution of religious houses, the Kirkstead estate was given by Henry the eighth, to Charles Duke of Suffolk; and on the division of his estates after the death of his two sons, who survived him but a short time, it reverted to the king as one of the heirs general of the family, and was subsequently given to Lord Clinton and Saye, afterwards Earl of Lincoln. This estate descended to Mr. Daniel Disney, in right of his wife Catherine, the youngest daughter of Henry Fynes Clinton, Esquire, and grand-daughter of the second Earl of Lincoln. In the year 1792 it was sold by Mr. Disney Fytch, grandson of Mr. Daniel Disney, to the present possessor, Richard Ellison, Esquire, of Sudbroke Holme, near Lincoln.
Of the Abbey a small ruin only remains: but from a plate of “The Ichnography of the Monastery of Kirsted Linc.” in Stukeley’s Itinerarium Curiosum, the buildings appear to have been extensive.
South of the ruin of the Abbey is the Chapel, a very curious building, which according to tradition was built previous to the monastery. It is of early English architecture, having lancet windows at the sides and east end, and an ox-eye window over the entrance at the west end. The roof is beautifully groined, the ribs springing from corbel tables; and against the south wall on the inside, is a rude figure in stone of a knight templar, with the front part of his helmet in the shape of a cross. For many years the roof of this building was covered with thatch, but in 1790 it was removed and a covering of tiles substituted. At that time also the bell, which had previously hung in a tree, was placed over the west end of the building.
This chapel is a donative of exempt jurisdiction, but appears to have had no stipend for the officiating minister until it came into the possession of Mr. Daniel Disney, who being a presbyterian, appointed a minister of that persuasion to perform service there, with a salary of £30. per annum. [82] In order that the tenets which he professed might not want support in his parish, in 1720 he settled certain lands upon five trustees, the profits of which were to be applied to the maintenance of a presbyterian minister at this place. This gift he afterwards confirmed by his will in 1732, and in addition, bequeathed to the trustees the use of the chapel and chapel ground for the same purpose. On the death or alienation of the minister, the trustees were to present the names of two to the lord of the manor, who was to appoint one of them, and on his neglect or refusal, the trustees themselves were to make the appointment. Ministers continued to be nominated by the prescribed form until the death of Mr. Dunkley, who had for many years received the bequeathed stipend, and whose demise took place in 1794. On that occasion the present owner of the manor took possession of the estates which had been conveyed to the trustees, and appointed to the chapel a minister of the Church of England, paying him £30. per annum. The trustees recovered possession of the estates, by an action of ejectment, tried at Lincoln summer assizes, 1812; but not of the chapel. A new chapel was erected and the presbyterian form of worship re-established here in 1822.
This village gave birth to the celebrated monk Hugh de Kirkstead, who is styled by Fuller “a Benedictine Cistertian Bernardine Monk, or, as it may be termed a treble refined Christian.” He, and Serlo, one of his own order, joined in composing a chronicle of the Cistertians from their first arrival in England in 1131, to their own time, about 1210.
In the fourteenth volume of the “Archeologia of the Society of Antiquaries” is an engraving of an ancient iron candlestick of a very singular construction, six of which were found in cleaning the bed of the river Witham near this place.
This village contained, according to the returns of 1821, 24 houses and 132 inhabitants.