William John Bankes, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

William John Bankes

British politician

Date of Birth: 11-Dec-1786

Place of Birth: Kingston Lacy, England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 15-Apr-1855

Profession: politician, egyptologist, archaeologist, explorer

Nationality: United Kingdom

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

William John Bankes (11 December 1786 – 15 April 1855), the second, but first surviving, son of Henry Bankes MP, was a notable explorer, Egyptologist and adventurer.
He was a member of the Bankes family of Dorset and he had Sir Charles Barry recase Kingston Lacy in stone as it is today.
He travelled extensively to the Near East and Egypt and made an extensive individual collection of Egyptian artefacts.
His work on Egypt although not acknowledged until recently is vastly important.
He was a good friend of Lord Byron, Samuel Rogers and Sir Charles Barry.
He also served as Tory Member of Parliament (MP) for Truro in 1810, for Cambridge University from 1822 to 1826, for Marlborough (the UK parliamentary constituency that his maternal grandfather, William Woodley, for whom he was named, had held from 1780 to 1784) from 1829 to 1832 and finally for Dorset from 1832 to 1835.