British naturalist and botanist (1743–1820), Joseph Banks took part in James Cook's first voyage around the world (1768–1771) aboard the Endeavour. He brought back thousands of previously unknown plant specimens and served as President of the Royal Society for 41 years.
Joseph Banks(1743 — 1820)
Joseph Banks
Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande
9 min read
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- 1768–1771: takes part in James Cook's first circumnavigation aboard the Endeavour
- 1770: lands at Botany Bay (Australia), a name he helped inspire through his accounts of the site's exceptional botanical richness
- Brings back over 30,000 natural specimens, including 1,400 plant species previously unknown in Europe
- 1778–1820: President of the Royal Society of London for 41 years
- Founder of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as a world centre for scientific research
Works & Achievements
A daily account combining botanical observations, ethnographic descriptions, and personal impressions. A founding document of Pacific natural history, it was not published until two centuries after it was written.
A set of 743 engraved plates based on drawings made during the Endeavour voyage, depicting the flora of Australia and the Pacific. A masterpiece of botanical illustration, these plates were not published in their entirety until 1990.
One of Banks's greatest achievements: he transformed the royal gardens at Kew into a global network for collecting and studying plants, sending collectors to the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Kew remains today one of the world's largest herbaria and botanical gardens.
Banks arranged the shipment of the first Spanish merino sheep to New South Wales, laying the foundations of the Australian wool industry. This initiative, grounded in his agronomic knowledge, lastingly transformed the colony's economy.
More than 50,000 letters exchanged with Linnaeus, Buffon, Humboldt, and hundreds of other scholars. This correspondence is a key source for the history of the natural sciences in the 18th century and bears witness to the central coordinating role Banks played in world science.
Anecdotes
Aboard the Endeavour (1768–1771), Banks brought at his own expense a team of eight people, including two artists tasked with drawing the species discovered. He spent around £10,000 of his personal fortune to fund the expedition's scientific equipment, making himself the voyage's principal patron and transforming what was a naval mission into a genuine naturalist expedition.
In April 1770, during the landing on Australia's east coast, Banks and his colleagues collected over 1,400 plant species unknown to European botanists in just a few days. James Cook decided to name the spot 'Botany Bay' in tribute to these extraordinary discoveries — this very site would become in 1788 the landing point for the first British colonial fleet, on Banks's own recommendation.
Banks was supposed to join Cook's second voyage (1772–1775), but he withdrew at the last moment after a spectacular falling-out with the Admiralty. He insisted on bringing a retinue of fifteen people — musicians and servants included — and on having the ship's structure altered to accommodate them. The Admiralty refused; Cook set sail without him, and Banks never returned to the Pacific.
It was Banks who persuaded the British government to send an expedition to find the breadfruit tree in Tahiti, convinced that this nourishing fruit would provide cheap food for slaves on Caribbean plantations. This project gave rise to the famous Bounty voyage (1787–1789), commanded by Captain Bligh, which ended in the most celebrated mutiny in British naval history.
Elected president of the Royal Society in 1778, Banks held the post until his death in 1820: forty-two years at the head of Britain's most prestigious scientific institution, an absolute record. He used this position to fund expeditions to the four corners of the globe and to transform the royal gardens at Kew into the world's leading centre of botany.
Primary Sources
The industry of Man! Here we saw an instance of it… We found growing here a most beautiful tree covered with white blossoms… I can scarce express the pleasure the sight of these new objects gives me.
Botany Bay on the coast of New South Wales affords the most eligible situation… The climate is temperate, the soil fertile, and the natives very few.
The object of your voyage is to carry the breadfruit-plant from Otaheite to the West Indies. You are to remain at Otaheite until you have got as many plants as you can conveniently stow.
I have the honour to transmit to you a small specimen of the plants I have brought from our voyage round the world. I beg you will favour me with your opinion on their classification.
Key Places
The Banks family estate, inherited in 1761, where Joseph grew up and developed his interest in nature. He returned there regularly between expeditions and carried out experimental farming on the land.
Banks's London residence, transformed into a true intellectual and scientific hub where he received the greatest scholars in Europe. He kept his herbaria there, along with a library of several thousand volumes and his natural history collections.
Banks was the driving force behind Kew Gardens' rise to global prominence, sending collectors to every corner of the world during his 41 years at the helm of the Royal Society. Under his leadership, the gardens became the world's greatest botanical centre.
The landing site of Banks in April 1770, named in tribute to the wealth of plant species collected there. Banks made its reputation across Europe and recommended the site to the British government as a location for a penal colony.
A major stopover for the Endeavour in 1769, where Banks studied Polynesian culture, flora, and people with great fascination. His notes on Tahiti rank among the earliest serious ethnographic and botanical descriptions of the island.
Visited during Cook's first voyage (1769–1770), New Zealand was the site of significant botanical collecting. Banks produced the first scientific descriptions of many Māori plants there, some of which still bear his name.
Typical Objects
An instrument made of wooden boards and absorbent paper used to flatten and dry collected plants. Banks used dozens of them aboard the *Endeavour* to preserve his thousands of botanical specimens.
An indispensable portable magnifying lens for examining the details of flowers, leaves, and insects. Banks used it systematically during his collecting expeditions to identify the taxonomic characteristics of unknown species.
A journal in which Banks recorded his daily observations, descriptions, and sketches of plants and animals. His *Endeavour* journal, kept over three years, is today a primary historical source of the highest importance.
Hermetically sealed containers filled with alcohol for preserving animal specimens brought back from the voyage. Banks filled hundreds of them, preserving insects, fish, and reptiles entirely unknown to European science.
Banks funded two artists — Sydney Parkinson and Alexander Buchan — tasked with illustrating the species discovered. These drawings, gathered in the celebrated *Banks Florilegium*, constitute one of the greatest masterpieces of botanical illustration.
Banks exchanged more than 50,000 letters with scholars around the world, sending and receiving seeds, dried specimens, and descriptions. This correspondence made Soho Square a true nerve centre of global botany.
School Curriculum
Vocabulary & Tags
Key Vocabulary
Tags
Daily Life
Morning
Banks began his days early, examining specimens received from collectors around the world or dictating his vast scientific correspondence to his secretaries. At his home at 32 Soho Square, he worked surrounded by his herbaria and his library. From nine o'clock onward, he would often receive scholars, naval officers, or travellers who came seeking advice or letters of recommendation.
Afternoon
Banks's London afternoons were devoted to the affairs of the Royal Society, whose weekly sessions he chaired. He regularly visited Kew Gardens to oversee the plantings and decide which new species to introduce. At his country estate in Revesby, he would walk his lands as a naturalist, noting local species and discussing agronomy with his tenant farmers.
Evening
Banks presided over scientific dinners at Soho Square, gathering naturalists, philosophers, artists, and explorers in what amounted to a true Enlightenment salon in the English manner. These meals provided the occasion for lively intellectual exchanges, presentations of recent discoveries, and discussions about the next expeditions to fund or organise.
Food
As a wealthy English gentleman of the 18th century, Banks ate heartily: roasted meats, game, fish, garden vegetables, and sweet desserts. During his travels, he adapted to local resources and carefully noted the edible plants he discovered — in Australia and Polynesia he ate foods entirely unknown to Europeans, scrupulously recording his impressions.
Clothing
As an English aristocrat, Banks wore a fine-cloth dress coat, embroidered waistcoat, knee breeches, and silk stockings for formal occasions at the Royal Society or at court. In the field, he adopted more practical attire — a sturdy greatcoat and boots — for his botanical excursions, during which he sometimes covered miles through difficult terrain or tropical forests.
Housing
Banks lived primarily in his townhouse at 32 Soho Square in London, fitted out as a veritable natural history museum: enormous herbaria, a library of several thousand volumes, and collections of minerals and taxidermied animals. His country seat, Revesby Abbey in Lincolnshire, offered him a place to rest and grounds on which to observe the local flora.
Historical Timeline
Period Vocabulary
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
Journal de bord de l'Endeavour
1768-1771 (publié intégralement en 1896)
Banks Florilegium
Dessins 1768-1771, gravures 1771-1784, publication 1980-1990
Développement des jardins botaniques de Kew
1778-1820
Introduction du mouton mérinos en Australie
1797
Correspondance scientifique internationale
1760-1820
