George Bankes was the last of the Cursitor Barons of the Exchequer, the office being abolished on his death in 1856.
Background
Bankes was the third son of Henry Bankes of Kingston Hall, Dorsetshire, who represented Corfe Castle for nearly fifty years, and of Frances, daughter of William Woodley, governor of the Leeward Islands. He was a lineal descendant of Sir John Bankes, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in the reign of Charles I. Bankes was educated at Westminster School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Education
Bankes studied law first at Lincoln"s Inn, and afterwards at the Inner Temple, and was called to the bar by the latter society in 1815.
Career
In the following year he entered Parliament as his father"s colleague for the family borough of Corfe Castle, which he represented in every succeeding Parliament until 1823. He was again returned for Corfe Castle in 1826, and sat until 1832, when the family borough was united with that of Wareham. In 1829, under the Wellington administration, he became chief secretary of the Board of Control, and in the next year a Junior Lord of the Treasury, and one of the commissioners for the affairs of India.
At the general election in 1841 he again entered Parliament, being returned by the county of Dorset, for which he continued to sit until his death.
A Tory, he strenuously opposed Robert Peel"s commercial reforms. During the short administration of the Earl of Derby in 1852, Bankes held the office of Judge Advocate General, and was sworn a Privy Councillor.
Politics
Conservative Party, Tories.
Membership
6th United Kingdom Parliament. 7th United Kingdom Parliament. 8th United Kingdom Parliament.
9th United Kingdom Parliament.
10th United Kingdom Parliament. 14th United Kingdom Parliament.
15th United Kingdom Parliament. 16th United Kingdom Parliament.