William Hodgkinson Banks

Extract Linley & Jim Hooper's family history

William Banks-Hodgkinson was born on 10 April 1719. He was the son of Joseph Banks and Ann Hodgkinson.

William Banks-Hodgkinson married Sarah Bate on 26 September 1741 at Burghley House, near Stamford, Lincolnshire. He was married in the Chapel of Burleigh, the seat of the Earl of Exeter.

William was Deputy Lieutenant of Lincolnshire.

William died before 1 October 1761 at Revesby, Lincolnshire.

He was buried on 1 October 1761 at Revesby. He died suddenly after a short illness, temporarily paralyzed, in his 43rd year.

Children of William Banks-Hodgkinson and Sarah Bate

Sir Joseph Banks b. 2 Feb 1743/44, d. 19 Jun 1820

Sarah Sophia Banks b. 17 Oct 1745, d. 1818

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Entry for Banks-Hodgkinson Baronets Banks, of Revesby-Abbey, in Lincolnshire, now occasionally resident at Overton-hall, in Derbyshire.

—The family of Banks was originally of Yorkshire. Joseph Banks, Esq., M. P. for Peterborough, married the heiress of Hodgkinson: William, his son, took the name of Hodgkinson for the Overton estate, which afterwards passed to his younger brother, the late Robert Banks Hodgkinson, Esq.

Joseph Banks, Esq., of Revesby-Abbey, (son of William, above-mentioned, who had resumed the name of Banks, and grandson of Joseph Banks, above-mentioned) was created a Baronet in 1783.

On the death of his uncle, Robert Banks Hodgkinson, in 1792, he became possessed of Overton-hall, which has since been his occasional residence. In 1795, he was made Knight of the Bath; and upon the new-modelling of that order in 1814, one of the Knights Grand Cross. Sir Joseph married one of the coheiresses of Hugesson, of Provender in Kent. ______________________________________________________________________________ Full text of "The Publications - Lincoln Record Society"

William, born 1719 ; his mother had the smallpox out upon her when brought to bed, and narrowly escaped with her life. In 1736 he joined the Middle Temple;

in 1741, in the chapel of Burghley House, he married Sarah Bate, eldest daughter of William Bate of Fausson, co. Derby.

As the second son he succeeded to the estate of his maternal grandfather William Hodgkinson, and took his name.

On the death of his elder brother Joseph he became heir apparent of Revesby, and renounced the name of Hodgkinson.

William Banks settled at Revesby, which he refurnished in 1743. He contested Grampound in Cornwall in 1741, and was defeated, but was declared elected when the victors were unseated in petition. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Lincolnshire in 1743. The publication in 1749 of an " Open Letter " addressed to him on the subject of distemper among horned cattle implies that he was a wellknown figure in agricultural circles. 1 Sir Joseph records that some time in 1745 he was seized with a fever which left him deprived of the use of his lower limbs. In 1752 he recovered the use of them suddenly, and without any apparent cause, and immediately got on horseback to attend to his favourite business of drainage but in less than half a year he fell back into his former state. The medical people attributed his relapse to the use of more riding exercise than was prudent. There- after he was confined to his chair, and was carried from thence to his bed and to his chaise, in which he sometimes took the air but never visited. 2 As lessee of the manor of Horncastle, held of the Bishop of Carlisle, he contributed half of the cost of buying the fair at Market Stainton, eight miles distant, and transferring it to Horncastle. 3 There is a glimpse of him entertaining a very large company at Revesby on an occasion connected with drainage, though it cannot have been on completion of the Grand Sluice at Boston, which did not take place until 1766.

In 1749 great alterations were being planned for the Revesby gardens. The long pond on the north side of the house was dug, and the mount behind it raised of the earth that came out of it, and elm trees were planted behind the mount. The menagerie was probably begun that year, but other plans were not carried out.

William Banks died after a short illness, which had not alarmed either his family or his physicians, in 1761, aged 42. His death was attributed by the physicians to the bursting of an imposthume in his breast. Something of the regard in which he was held is expressed in the parish register of Revesby, recording his burial on 1 October 1761 : — " A most worthy gentleman and Lord of this Mannour ".

His son Joseph was born in 1743 and his daughter Sarah Sophia in 1744. When he died the children were still minors, but his widow lived to witness her son's fame ; she died at his house in Soho Square in 1804.