Career
He was Attorney General and Chief Justice to Charles I during the English Civil War. Bankes was of the Bankes family of Keswick, Cumberland. He matriculated at Queen"s College, Oxford on 22 February 1605 aged 15.
He entered Gray"s Inn, where he was called to the bar in 1614.
He was elected Member of Parliament for Morpeth in 1626 and in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. In 1630, Bankes was Lent Reader of Gray"s Inn and was treasurer to the Inn from 1631 to 1635.
He was knighted at Street James on 5 June 1631. He was also appointed attorney to Prince Charles.
In September 1634 he became attorney-general to the king, holding this position during the litigation of John Hampden"s famous cause of ship money.
And his argument upon that question is still extant. He was also counsel for Cambridge University in 1634-1635. Bankes purchased with all its manors, rights, and privileges in 1635 from Lady Elizabeth Coke (née Hatton), widow of Sir Edward Coke, who had died in 1634.
Bankes"s ancestors had for many generations held property in and near Keswick in Cumberland.
The Title deeds and grants from the Crown of the black lead mine at Borrowdale date back as far as Henry VI. and Edward IV and were again renewed under the seal of James I.
His name is signed to the engagement with the lords at York, in June 1642. In the same year he was sworn of the privy council, and the degree of Doctor of Laws conferred upon him at Oxford, where he died on 28 December 1644, aged 55, and was buried in the cathedral of Christ Church, where is a monument to his memory.
In 1644, he was at first mentioned in the list of those persons meant to be excepted out of the general pardon. His name was afterwards struck out of that list, but he was notwithstanding impeached of high treason.