President of the Royal Society, a
position he held for the next forty-
one years. He had formed a close
friendship with King George
III who named him a baronet.
He was described as the King’s
‘Minister of Science’, since,
besides being president of the
Royal Society, he was an adviser
to the Kew Gardens; on the Board
of Agriculture; oversaw the Royal
Greenwich Observatory and was
a trustee of the British Museum.
In 1779 Banks gave evidence
before a committee of the House
of Commons where he stated that
the place most eligible for the
reception of convicts sentenced to
transportation was Botany Bay on
the coast of New Holland. In this
Banks was aided by James Matra,
a junior officer on the Endeavour
who produced ‘A Proposal for
Establishing a Settlement in New
South Wales’. As well as all these
activities Banks had the rounds of
London’s social life and his farming and property interests. His house at Soho Square
became a court, a centre for scientists and the exchange of ideas, but it is said that he
‘readily swallowed gross flattery’.
There was a great deal of work to be done on the Florilegium, yet ten years after
the return of the Endeavour it was still not complete. Daniel Solander had provided
twenty manuscript volumes of description which were prepared for publication and in
1782 Banks wrote that he soon hoped to publish his massive work:
The botanical work with which I am presently involved is nearing its completion. Because
everything was produced by our common effort, Solander’s name will appear on the title
page next to mine ... since all descriptions were made when the plants were fresh, nothing
remains to be done, except to fully work out the drawings still not finished ... All that is left
is so little that it can be completed in two months; if only the engravers can put the finishing
touches on it.Eucalyptus obliqua by Charles Louis L’Héritier de Brutelle,
Smithsonian Museum LibrarySir Joseph Banks – In London 51