Banks, John (1)

Banks, John (1), a minister of the Society of Friends, was born in Sunderland, Cumberland Co., England, in June, 1637. He became a Christian at the age of sixteen, and at the age of twenty-two was recognised as a minister. He entered at once upon that life of suffering for conscience' sake so common among Friends in the period in which he lived. At one time he says his associates in prison, where he was thrust because he would not pay certain fees, were "a Bedlam-man and four with him for theft, two notorious thieves, two moss-troopers for stealing cattle, and a woman for murdering her child." — For several, years he travelled extensively through Great Britain and Ireland. A full account of his different journeys, together with a large number of his letters written to his wife.and others, may be found in his memoirs. He has also left an account of a long imprisonment of nearly seven years which he endured in the city of Carlisle (1684-91). The last fourteen years of his life he lived in the County of Somerset. His death took place Aug. 6, 1710. Several of his epistles and other papers may be found in The Friends' Library, ii, 1-68. (J. C. S.)