Edward (Bill) Banks (1903–1988) was a British administrator, amateur naturalist and museum curator.
Life Banks was born in Newport, Wales.Nicholl, Robert, 1989, "Edward Banks (obituary)". Brunei Museum Journal 7(1), 71 He was the only son of Reginald Clare Banks, a colliery proprietor, but had three older sisters and went on to study zoology at Oxford University.Vinson H. Sutlive and Joanne Sutlive, 2001, The Encyclopaedia of Iban Studies: A-G, 108
In 1925 Banks entered the Sarawak ServiceAllen, Charles (ed), 1983, Tales from the South China Seas: Images of the British in South-East Asia in the Twentieth Century, 231 and served as a District Officer during the period of the White Rajahs. He was also Curator of the Sarawak Museum in Kuching from 1925 to 1945. During the Japanese occupation of Sarawak in the Second World War, Banks was interned at Batu Lintang camp near Kuching.Heimann 1999, 223 Banks retired in 1950.Allen, Charles (ed), 1983, Tales from the South China Seas: Images of the British in South-East Asia in the Twentieth Century, 231
A collection of Banks' papers are in the Papers of the Brooke Family of Sarawak (1941–1981), held in the Rhodes House Library in Oxford, England.Ooi 1998, 535-6
Selected publications
Articles 1931 "A trip through the Murut country. Ulu Trusan and Bah Kelalan." Sarawak Gazette 61:144-146. 1936 "The Kelabit country. An account of a recent visit." Sarawak Gazette 66:158-159. 1937a "Some megalithic remains from the Kelabit country in Sarawak with some notes on the Kelabits themselves." Sarawak Museum Journal 4(5):411-437. 1937b "Native drinks in Sarawak." Sarawak Museum Journal 4(5):439-447. 1937c "Drink." Sarawak Gazette 67:3-6 (reprint of 1937b). 1939 "Murut morons." Sarawak Gazette 69(1030):107. 1940 "The natives of Sarawak." Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 18:49-54.
Books 1949. A Naturalist in Sarawak. Kuching Press: Kuching, Sarawak. 1949. Bornean Mammals. Kuching Press: Kuching, Sarawak. c.1963. The Green Desert. Author.
Notes
References Heimann, Judith M. (1999). The Most Offending Soul Alive: Tom Harrisson and His Remarkable Life. University of Hawai'i Press: Honolulu. Nicholl, Robert (1989). Edward Banks (obituary). Brunei Museum Journal 7(1), 71 Ooi, Keat Gin (1998) Japanese Empire in the Tropics: Selected Documents and Reports of the Japanese Period in Sarawak, Northwest Borneo, 1941-1945 Ohio University Center for International Studies, Monographs in International Studies, SE Asia Series 101 (2 vols)