Henry Bankes

Henry Bankes (1757–1834) was an English politician and author. Life Bankes was the only surviving son of Henry Bankes and the great-grandson of Sir John Bankes, chief justice of the common pleas in the time of Charles I. Bankes was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1778, and M.A. in 1781. In 1776 he inherited his father's estate at Kingston Lacy. After leaving Cambridge he sat for the close borough of Corfe Castle from 1780 to 1826; in the latter year he was elected for the county of Dorset, and re-elected in the general election in the same year, but was rejected after a severe contest in 1830. In politics he was a conservative; he gave a general support to Prime Minister Pitt, but preserved his independence. He took an active but not a leading part in nearly every debate of his time, and closely attended to all parliamentary duties.