Papers of Sir John Bankes

The collection contains official documents, 1634-40, mainly comprising copies of petitions to the king, with related papers, and warrants addressed to Bankes. There are bundles of papers relating to the American colonies; the granting of patents for monopolies and inventions, and charters of incorporation for boroughs and trades. There are bundles of draft proclamations; extracts from medieval records about the levying of contributions for the defence of the realm; recognizances and examinations in Star Chamber cases. There are also estate papers relating to Sir John Bankes's estates in North Lynn, West Lynn and Clenchwarton, Norfolk, c.1622-1650

An outline of the collection, with examples of notable documents, is given in Irving Gray, 'The Lydney Park papers', Quarterly Review, 289 (1951), 55-67, and in D. M. Barratt, 'The Bankes Papers: a first report', Bodleian Library Record, 4 (1952-3), 312-23. A detailed calendar of most of the collection, and an index of the people, places and subjects, are available in the Library.

Sir John Bankes (1589-1644) was attorney-general, 1634-40. Details are given in the Dictionary of National Biography.

The papers have been kept in the order they were found in 1949.

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/specialcollections).

Purchased from the Lydney Park Estate Co. in 1950.

M. Clapinson and T.D. Rogers, Summary Catalogue of Post-Medieval Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library Oxford. Acquisitions 1916-1975. (Oxford, 1991), vol. I, nos. 37845-921

A detailed calendar of most of the collection, and an index of the people, places and subjects, are available in the Library.

Found among the muniments of the Bathurst and Wynter families in the Lydney Park estate office in 1949.