Ralph Bankes

Henry John Ralph Bankes (27 August 1902 - 9 August 1981), known simply as Ralph Bankes, was a British landowner and Lord High Admiral of Purbeck. Early life An only son, Bankes was born to Walter Ralph Bankes, a member of the Bankes family, and his wife Henriette Jenny Fraser in 1902. He was the seven-times-great-grandson of Sir John Bankes and the great-great-grandson of Henry Bankes. He was educated at Eton College in Eton, Berkshire and Magdalen College, Oxford. At Eton, Bankes befriended Robert Strickland-Constable, (later Sir Robert Frederick Strickland-Constable, 11th Bt.), the brother of his future wife, Hilary Margaret Strickland-Constable. Career Bankes inherited Kingston Lacy and his father’s estates in 1904, while still an infant, and came into his inheritance at the age of twenty-one, when he was the largest private landowner in Dorset. In 1936, Bankes was appointed as a Justice of the Peace (J.P.) for Dorset and was High Sheriff of Dorset in 1939. He was also Lord High Admiral of Purbeck, a ceremonial role.