Joseph Banks ( 1743 - 1820 )

The history of each science will always include a place of recognition for the patron as well as the parctitioner . Heralding the era of worthwhile , full-scale plant collecting came Sir Joseph Banks , wealthy landowner and for forty-two years (1778-1820) president of the Royal Society .During that period he was the " dictator " of British botany , and may well be called the father of modern plant hunters as well as the promugator of modern techinques of plant hunting .

Joseph Banks , son of a wealthy British landsman ,was born in London in 1743. At the age of nine he was sent to Harrow School and from there to Eton at the age of thirteen . He was not considered a particularly good student; he especially detested the classical studies . Conversely , he was inordinately fond of detested the classical studies. Conversely , he was inordinately fond of sports and outdoor recreation , and was so enamored of play that he seemed incapable of concentrating on study. After a year of play that he seemed incapable of concentrating on study . After a year at Eton he was still making no headway in schoolastic work, but this was shortly to change. The turning point in is life stemmed seemingly from a sudden recognition of the wonders of nature with which his everyday activities brought him in contact. Becoming intensely interested in insects and plants , he resolved to study botany. He began his private herbarium at that youthful age , paying women who collected " simples" for the druggists' shops to bring him specimens also . When , during a school holiday he found Gerard's Herball on his mother's dressing table, he began of the study seriously. He frequently visited the herb garden of the Apothecaries ' Company , and with the aid of the book was able to identify many of the plants he observed there.

At the age of seventeen Banks entered Oxford . While he was attending the university , his father died, leaving the biy a large fortune and estae. Botany was not taught as a subject at Oxford , but with his inheritance Banks was able to hire a private tutor , Israel Lyons , astronomer and botanists . From Oxford the young scientist entered Cambridge, where he excelled so admirably in his studies of natural history that he gained an honorary degree at the age of twenty -one and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society two years later. Discontinuing his work at Cambridge , he later left college in order to devote himself more fully to the study of natural science.

In 1766 an Admiralty vessel was sent to Newfoundland to investigate the fisheries there. Banks took the opportunity offered him to travel aboard the ship and thus had his first glimpse of adventure -a glimpse that merely served to whet his appetite for more. On this first journey the ship barely escaped sinking , and much of Banks' collection of Newfoundland plants was thrown overboard. A few hardy shrubs were the only tangible evidence remaining of the specimens collected .

He did not have to wait long for another voyage ; the Royal Society had been planning an expedition to the South Seas, with Lietenant James Cook chosen as commander and Banks as director . Banks, then only twenty-five , was overjoyed and immediately set about making preparations . Selecting the best personnel available , he engaged Dr.Daniel Solander to accompany him . He employed four artists and a complement of servants , as well as the best equipment avilable for the collections he hoped to make. Dipping unstinting into his personal funds, he used up 10,000 pounds sterling . In a letter to Linnaeus , John Ellis wrote of Banks' preparations:" No people ever went to sea better fitted out for the purpose of natural history , or more elegantly ."

On 25 August 1768 sail was set on H.M.S. Endeavour on this projected great voyage of exploration to the Pacific.The first collection of plants was made at Tierra del Fuego, on the southernmost tip of South America. At Tahiti the ship's astronomers took observation of the transist of Venus , and under Banks' direction the ship set southward toward the unknown . It was then 25 Auguest 1769 , the first anniversary of their departure from England .Six weeks more at sea and they reached New Zealand and Australia , then known as New Holland .Here was another rich field for collection , and the first landing place was so abundant that they named it Botany Bay. A jotting from Banks ' journal reads:

3rd May (1770). Our collection of plants now grown so immensely large that it was necessary that some extraordinary care should be taken of them, lest they should spoil in the books. I therefore devoted this day to that business and carried ashore all the drying paper, nearly 200 quires , of which the larger part was full, and spreading them upon a sail in the sun , kept them in this manner exposed the whole day ,often truning them . 4 th May. Myself in the woods , botanising as usual ; now quite devoid of fear, as our neighbours have turned out such rank cowards.

Banks and Solander both contracted malaria in the Malay Archipelago and both nearly died . Two of their companions had previously died from exposure in January 1770 Tierra del Fuego. And once again ship wreck was narrowly avoided off the Queensland coast. There were , indeed , difficulties to be met.

Finally , after nearly three years's absence , they turned homeward. This voyage , recorded in the journals of both Banks and Solander , opened new vistas of study for European botany . It was also the knowledge acquired through his experiences of plant discovery , the hazards of collecting , and plant preserving that entitled Banks to a preeminent position at Kew.

Princess Augusta ,widow of Frederick Prince of Wales and mother of George III immediately moved to Kew House from adjoining Richmound Lodge , joining the two properties to form Kew Gardens and inviting Banks to assist him as director . Banks made the most of this position , inauguarating the policy of close cooperation with the crown and sending out many collectors to bring back new plants for the gardens and herbarium.

Dr. Solander had meanwhile remained in Bank's employ as librarian and secretary , additionally sorting and classifying specimens . The two friends made a further expedition together -to Iceland ,where they spend a month exploring Mt. Hecla and collecting plants . They returned via the Herbrides Islands ,where they also did some collecting . In addition , they collected orchids when visiting Australia with Captian Cook's expedition of 1780 in H.M.S. Endeavour ,the first to bring orchid specimen back from that region . In honor of his voyages and explorations, Banks was created a baronet in 1781.

Dr. Solander died in 1782, before the work of classifying the collected plants could be completed .Banks did not complete the work after Solander's death , nor did he publish his diary of that historic voyage. He had previously gone to great expense in getting plates prepared for the 800 plants collected , however . Engraved on copper, 700 were finished, and of the 360 New Zealand species collected , 200 plates were prepared .Botanists were puzzled , therefore ,when these plates were not publishded , although the British Museum sent Thomas Kirk a set of impressions from the plates, some of them signed by Sydney Parkinson , the chief artist of the expedition who had died on the return voyage.

Banks ,of course ,was involved with many outside affairs .Hawkesworth had used much of Sir Joseph's diary notes in the complication of Cook's First Voyage , which may have been at partial reason why he did not publish them himself . Another reason was that after the death of Solander , Banks acted as chief counselor to all the king's scientific matters, which occupied much of his time. In this position he had control of the Royal Gardens at Kew.

Upon discussion of the colonization of New South Wales ,Banks suggested that the site of the first settlement should be Botany Bay, and from the beginning he acted as patron of the infant colony. By his arrangements ,several shipments of useful trees and plants were sent to the colony, and gardeners were appointed as caretakers . Again , here was opportunity to obtain new exotic plants were sent back. Collectors were also sent to the West Indies and the Cape , and Kew became the foremost place in the world as a botanical garden . Later ,Sir Joseph established botanical gardens in Jamica and Ceylon.

Banks consulted the king with the idea that breadfruit of the Pacific tropical islands might be grown with advantage in the West Indies . A tropical islands might be grown to undertake this venture ,and Banks organized the preparations . He was personally acquainted with Lieutenant William Bligh, who at twenty -two was appointed master of H.M.S. Resolution under Captian Cook on his third voyage . Bligh was selected to transport the trees and to command H.M.S. Bounty on the voyage .The undertaking was abortive , however , and the well-known mutiny organized by Fletcher Christian was the result . Some years later Bligh was again sent for the same purpose and was successful.

Banks was elected president of the Royal Society in 1778 , an office he kept for the next forty -one years . Certain reforms were his first official actions in his new capacity . For years there had been no bars to membreship in the society ; men aspiring to prestige and distinction but with no scientific merit - had been freely admitted . Banks maintained that the society's work would be far more effective if only interested scientist and wealthy men who wished to patronize science were chosen as members. There was much opposition to this proposal , but Banks won. He proved to be constantly active as president , yet continued to be a mucificent patron of science. His house ,his library , and the whole of his valuable collections were at all times available to men of science .

By Sir Joseph's efforts the first East Indian orchids were brought to England in 1800. His suggested cultural techinique were of major significance in breaking through the widespread misunderstanding and ignorance which had been previously associated with their culture.

As an internationalist Joseph Banks was a great humanitarian .During time of enemy ships were often captured by the British Navy ,and sometimes foreign naturalist found themselves prisoners . Immediately upon hearing of such incidents , Banks would intervene and all natural science collections involved would be returned to their rightful owners .During the war with France ten collections were returned by Sir Joseph's efforts to Paris, and numerous men of science were liberated from foreign prisons. On one occasion some Danish supply ships were captured by England , and the Icelanders awaiting the supplies found themselves in a state of famine . Through Banks' intercessions , however , permission was gained to send provision ships to island .

While president of the Royal Society Banks also aided many young botanists . To Robert Brown he offered the post of naturalist to survey the coasts of Australia with the expedition under Captian Flinders in 1801 . Brown was most successful during the four-year voyage, returning with a rich harvest of plants from that continent.

When Linnaeus' family found it necessary , for financial reasons, to sell his extensive collection of insects , shells , minerals and plants,Banks offered to take it on condition that a buyere could not be found in Sweden ; he felt the collection should not leave the collector's homeland . A second offer was made , through , so Banks referred James Smith , a wealthy young natuaralist , to Linnaeus's family , and Smith bought the collection. This led to the foundation of the Linnean Society in London , a significant contribution to the cause of natural history. Upon Smith's death the society bought the entire collection. Sir Joseph became the first honorary member.

The first medal of the Royal Horticultural Society was struck in 1811 and was awarded to Banks for his services to the society from its inception . He had been among those present on 7 March 1804 in a room in a house in Piccadilly , when the society was first organized .

This great patron of science died at the age of seventy-seven at Spring Grove on 19 June 1820. In his will he left provision that the artist Francis Bauer be enabled for the rest of his life to continue his drawings of the new plants at Kew . To Robert Brown be bequeathed his house in Soho Square , plus his library and herbarium ,which Brown in turn donated to the British Museum.

After Banks' death ,Dawson Turner , one of his friends , recovered part of the diary of the voyage with Captian Cook , and Truner's grandson , Joseph D.Hooker ,used it in compiling the interesting Journal of Sir Joseph Banks .

Botanist, explorer , patron of science , trustee of the British Museum , director of Kew Gardens -Joseph Banks' name is indeed prominent among the many distinguished men of that long reign of George III. Largely through his accomplishments, the fields of botany and horiticulture - and orchidology -entered the initial stages of scientific development .

References

Gardener's Chronicle .1867.No. 35.

Gilmour John. 1946 .British Botanists. London .

Glenn.Rewa ,1950 .The Botanical Explorers of New Zealand .Wellington .

Lemmon., Kenneth. 1962. The covered Garden . London : Museum Press Ltd .

Rolfe . R.A. 1956 . Notes .The Orch .Rev. Vol. 64, no . 758.

van Steenis, C.G. G. J. 1950.Cyclopaedia of collectors . Flora Malesiana. Vol. 1, ser . 1.

Walkabout . 1962. Sydney .December.