• Name: Banks, Thomas
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 22  December  1735
• Death Date: 2  February  1805
• Occupation: sculptor

There are a number of different Banks in the diary.

Sir Joseph Banks was a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries. He took part in the great Endeavour voyage (1768-71) with Captain Cook and achieved great fame as a result. On the entries in 1819 linked to Nairman, see St Clair, p. 422. Godwin records his death.

Thomas Banks was a sculptor with links to radical circles and especially to Horne Tooke, and was arrested on suspicion of treason in 1794. Godwin notes in his 1796 diary meeting ‘Banks, sc’ in 1793, and that seems likely to be the dinner at Horne Tooke’s on 20 January 1793. Moreover, it seems plausible to identify Banks at Horne Tooke’s as this Banks; and it seems likely that subsequent Banks, without initials or qualifications would be this Banks. However, in 1797 and 1798 there are three additional entries for ‘Banks sc’, and a further one in 1804. This suggests that Godwin is occasionally moved to distinguish entries but it is not clear what he is distinguishing them from, since they occur when the identification of Banks as Thomas Banks seems plausible – and where other Banks have not occurred in that year. Thomas Banks died in 1805 – and there is a long gap in references to Banks between 1802 (with one Banks sc in 1804) and 1817 when references to Banks reappear (with suggestions of links to Curran). The involvement of Thomas Banks in radical and artistic circles supports identifying entries for banks as Thomas Banks when the context is appropriate between 1793 and 1804.

Henry Bankes was a politician and political diarist. A trustee of the British Museum, he opposed Catholic Emancipation in the 1820s. There are a number of entries spelt Bankes – but it is unclear that they are all Henry Bankes – although at least one, in relation to the House of Commons is almost certainly him. The other entries include links to classical scholar Richard Porson, and there is some plausibility in this link due to Bankes's relationship with the British Museum.

Rev John Cleaver Banks. This person is clearly linked to antiquarian circles – in 1819 he helped value the library of Dr Burney with a view to its purchase by the British Museum; he sold several rare medieval manuscripts to the Bodleian in 1804, and his own ‘Theological, Critical and Classical library' was advertised for sale in the Morning Chronicle of 1821. Also, in 1804, the Morning Chronicle advertised a sonata composed and dedicated to Rev’d J Cleaver Banks by Muzio Clementi. Godwin’s references to this Banks are more conjectural, but there are several entries between 1796 and 1826 to J C Banks (if these are the same it suggests that Banks was forced to sell his library before his death -- no notice of obituary can be found). It is also possible that the two references in 1795 to Banks vdm (meaning reverend) are to this Banks. And it possible that he drops the ‘c’ on one occasion in 1795 and refers to J Banks.

We have left uncoded the spate of entries to Banks in 1817, and then in 1820, and the single entry in 1835. It is clear that these are not Thomas Banks, and it is unclear which of the other Banks they may be. Other uncoded Banks are: mes Banks (1797); Mrs and Miss Banks (1796); S J Banks (1820 and 1821).

• Morning Chronicle
• DNB

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.