Mary Banks in widow’s dress, gauze veil, pearl necklace, holding the keys to Corfe Castle, Dorset, in her right hand; landscape background with Corfe Castle in the distance.
Mary Hawtry was born in about 1598, the only daughter of Ralph Hawtry, Esquire of Ruislip, Middlesex, and Mary Altham. In about 1618, she married Sir John Bankes. In 1635, He purchased Corfe Castle in Dorset with all its manors, rights, and privileges from Lady Elizabeth Coke.
By 1643 Corfe Castle was the last Royalist garrison on the Dorsetshire coast. Mary's husband was away serving the king in London and Oxford; Lady Bankes remained at Corfe with her children, servants, and a small troop of soldiers. A first attempt by parliamentary forces to take Corfe occurred on May 1643 when forty seamen demanded the surrender of the castle's four pieces of ordnance. With her small group of soldiers and maidservants, Lady Bankes turned the cannon on the enemy and drove them away. She later gave up the ordnance so she could gain time to resupply the castle.
On 23 June 1643, 500-600 parliamentary troops began the first siege of Corfe. The besiegers lost 100 men in an assault on the castle in August; Lady Bankes herself, with her daughters, maidservants, and only five remaining soldiers, dropped stones and hot embers on the attackers and drove them back. After this defeat, and hearing reports of an approaching royalist force, the besiegers withdrew so quickly that they left horses, ordnance, and their dinner behind. The castle was safe for nearly two years, and Lady Bankes stayed either there or in London (her husband died in December 1644). Parliamentary forces tried repeatedly but unsuccessfully to take the castle in the summer of 1645.
In December the castle was again besieged, Lady Bankes again leading the defense. This second siege of Corfe ended in February 1646 when a traitor allowed 50-100 enemy soldiers into the castle, pretending that they were a royalist relief force. Having taken by stealth what they could not take by force, the Parliamentarians allowed Lady Bankes and her children to leave safely.
Quotes from others about the person
"The accounts have thrown up far more questions than answers and it would appear that there is much more to Lady Bankes than the ‘Brave Dame Mary’ who defended Corfe Castle so valiantly." - Pam White.
Mary was married to Sir John Bankes, who later became Attorney-General to King Charles I and Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Together Sir John and Mary had four sons and six daughters.
