John Bankes

[6] He was a major participant in the legal debates surrounding the 1628 Petition of Right, especially concerning martial law for the trial and punishment of those engaged in rebellion.

In September 1634 he became attorney-general to the king, holding this position during the litigation of John Hampden's famous cause of ship money; and his argument upon that question is still extant.

The Title deeds and grants from the Crown of the black lead mine at Borrowdale date back as far as Henry VI.

[1] Afterwards he followed the king from Westminster to York; having left his wife, Mary Bankes, to defend Corfe Castle, which she did with great courage until it was betrayed into the hands of the rebels.

[8] A Wetherspoon pub in Keswick, Cumbria is named "The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas", this is due to the current building constructed in 1901 been built on land which was formally the site of a ‘workhouse’ - founded in Sir John Bankes will (dated 1642).