Edward Banks

Who was Edward Banks?

Sir Edward Banks was an English builder.

Born at Hutton Hang near Richmond, North Yorkshire. After spending two years at sea, Banks began as a day labourer in 1789. He worked under the engineer John Rennie the Elder on the Lancaster canal and Ulverston canal and rose to the chief control in his partnership Jolliffe & Banks, contractors for public works.

Banks and Jolliffe were responsible for building bridges, dockyards, lighthouses and prisons. Among his undertakings were Staines bridge, the naval works at Sheerness dockyard, and the new channels for the rivers Ouse, Nene, and Witham in Norfolk and Lincolnshire. They were the builders of the Waterloo, Southwark, and London bridges. He owed his fortune principally to these contracts, which he took under the superintendence of the Rennies.

Edward Banks first married in 1793 to Nancy Franklin with whom he had five sons and tree daughters. She died in 1815 and Banks married again in 1821 to Amalia Pytches, William John Joliffe's sister in law. Banks lived in Adelphi Terrace, Westminster. He also owned property at Oxney Court, Dover and Sheppey Court, Kent.