Happy Birthday to Sir Joseph Banks: English Naturalist and Botanist

Joseph Banks as painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1773

Today we celebrate the birthday of Sir Joseph Banks (13 February 1743-19 June 1820). He was born in London to an aristocratic family-his dad was a wealthy Lincolnshire country squire and member of the House of Commons--was educated at the Harrow School, Eton College and then onto Oxford where he focused on natural history.

So strong was his interest in Botany, he even paid a Cambridge botanist to deliver a series of lectures at Oxford in 1764.

At age 21, he inherited his dad's estate and became the local squire and magistrate. Banks was unlike other wealthy young squires, who lived the aristocratic life with the 'grand tour' trip to Europe, marriage to nobility and then 'retirement' to the estate

He kept up a strong interest in science and through his strong social contacts, he became advisor to King George III even urging him to sponsor overseas discovery voyages--probably to foster his own interest in botany.

After being elected to the Royal Society, he was appointed to accompany the first James Cook expedition to the south Pacific Ocean on the HM Endeavor 1768-1771. On his travels to Brazil, Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, The Great Barrier Reef (located in the Coral Sea off the northeast coast of Australia, where the ship foundered on the reef for two months) Batavia (modern Jakarta, Indonesia) and South Africa, Banks and his associate botanist, Daniel Solander were able to collect a vast quantity of plants never recorded before.

There was a large herbarium on board and Banks despaired that he would not be able to sort it all before it all became dried out and spoiled. To avoid this situation, Sydney Parkinson the noted botanical artist was busy sketching all the specimens and he only had time to make notes on colors to be added later. While some plants dried up, others were wrapt in moist cloths and then stored in moist cloths to preserve them for later study.

The trip was not without sickness and tragedy. 34 crew member died of malaria, dysentery and tuberculosis. Banks and Solander fell deathly ill during the trip, but recovered to write up their findings. While Banks was equally famous as Cook after they arrived in England, the former would not accompany Cook on either of his next two voyages.

In 1781, Joseph Banks became Sir Joseph Banks when he became a Baronet and played an advisory role in establishing the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London. Today, the Gardens are host to a vast collection of plant species from around the world.

Banks s best known for introducing the Mimosa, Acacia and Eucalyptus species of plant to the Western World.