Major-General Sir Thomas MacDonald "Donald" Banks KCB DSO MC TD (31 March 1891 – 11 July 1975) was a British Army officer, senior civil servant and a founder member and first Chairman of the Guernsey Society.

[5] As a result of his actions, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), Military Cross (MC),[6] the Croix de Guerre, and was mentioned in despatches twice.

He was responsible for setting up the Empire Air Training Scheme, and travelled to Australia and New Zealand to discuss the manufacture of aircraft there.

[9] From 1940 to 1945 he was Director-General of the Petroleum Warfare Department, which developed innovative applications for petrol during the conflict, include Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation FIDO, (fog dispersal at airports), and PLUTO (pipeline under the ocean taking fuels from England to Europe during and after the invasion build-up).

Sir Donald was Head of the United Kingdom delegation to the International Civil Aviation Organization at Montreal in 1946, and Deputy Chairman of the Air Transport Advisory Council 1947–51.

He felt that there must be an informed voice and body of opinion among exiled Guernseymen and women that could influence the British Government, and assist the insular authorities after the hostilities were over.

[15] In 1942, he was approached by the Home Office to see if anything could be done to get over a reassuring message to the islanders, as it was known that, despite the fact that German authorities had banned radios, that the BBC was still being picked up secretly in Guernsey and Jersey.

[16] He was instrumental in the founding of the Guernsey Society in 1943, as well as the publication of Nos Iles by the Channel Islands Study Group, following a symposium in Oxford in 1944.