Sarah Sophia Banks

Sarah Sophia Banks (28 October 1744 – 27 September 1818) was an English antiquarian collector and the sister and collaborator of botanist Joseph Banks. She collected coins and medals and ephemera which are now historically valuable like broadsheets, newspaper clippings, visiting cards, prints, advertisements and playbills.

Biography

Banks was born on 28 October 1744 at 30 Argyll Street in Soho, London the daughter of William Banks, the Member of Parliament for Grampound, and his wife Sarah.

She "discussed questions of plant biology with her brother..." and "...influenced him greatly." Many "of her ideas made their way into his writings [and she] also provided valuable support by recopying and editing the entire manuscript of Banks' Newfoundland voyage (published 1766)."

Legacy

Banks' varied collections were left to her brother and sister-in-law who presented them to the British Museum and the Royal Mint Museum. 9= Mary Hancock 10= William Hodgkinson 11= 12= 13= 14= 15= 16= Robert Banks 17= Margaret Frankland 18= Rev. Rowland Hancock 19= 20= 21= 22= 23= 24= 25= 26= 27= 28= 29= 30= 31=