[1] She spent her formative years in Australia, at the family's sheep and cattle station in Cressbrook,[2] and in Europe.
[4] Banks worked with social reformer Octavia Hill as a young woman, She became a long-serving member of the Folklore Society from 1906, later serving on its council and as president from 1937 to 1939.
She gave presidential addresses titled "Syncretism in a Symbol" and "Scottish Lore of Earth, its Fruits, and the Plough".
[3] Though based in London, Banks travelled extensively throughout Europe gathering material and researching the many papers she wrote for the society's journal.
[6] During the Second World War donated artifacts she had collected during her fieldwork to the Pitt Rivers Museum, including a chamberpot and brass horse ornaments.