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.