Biographical entry Bancroft, Joseph (1836 - 1894)

Summary

Joseph Bancroft, father of Thomas Lane Bancroft (qv) and grandfather of Josephine Mackerras (qv) arrived in Brisbane in 1864 and from 1867 was house-surgeon to the Brisbane Hospital. He had a strong interest in natural history and agriculture. The Brisbane suburb of Kelvin Grove was named after his house.

Details

Born Stretford, Manchester, England, 21 February 1836. Died Brisbane, 16 June 1894.Educated at Manchester Royal School of Medicine and Surgery (MRCS, LSA 1859) and University of St. Andrews (MD 1859). Migrated to Australia for health reasons in 1864. Medical practitioner in Brisbane until his death; visiting surgeon, Brisbane Hospital from 1867, house surgeon form 1868. President of the Philosophical Society of Queensland 1882-83, when it was absorbed into the newly-formed Royal Society of Queensland. President of the Medical Board of Queensland 1882-94. First president of the Section of Hygiene and Public Health of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. President, Queensland branch, British Medical Association, which later founded a Bancroft memorial lecture and medal in his honour. The worm, Filaria bancrofti, was named after him.

Related entries

Archival resources

John Oxley Library, Manuscripts and Business Records Collection, State Library of Queensland

• Joseph Bancroft - Records, 1887 - 1891, OM72-152; John Oxley Library, Manuscripts and Business Records Collection, State Library of Queensland. Details
• Mabel Josephine Mackerras - Records, 1968, OM68-20; John Oxley Library, Manuscripts and Business Records Collection, State Library of Queensland. Details
• Thomas Lane Bancroft - Records, 1912, OM72-6; John Oxley Library, Manuscripts and Business Records Collection, State Library of Queensland. Details

Published resources

Book Sections

• Mackerras, M. Josephine, 'Bancroft, Joseph (1836-1894)', in Douglas Pike (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 3, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1969, pp. 84-85. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030084b.htm. Details

Edited Books

• Pearn, John and Powell, Laurie (eds), The Bancroft Tradition, Amphion Press, Brisbane, 1991, 277 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Obituary Notice of Dr. Joseph Bancroft', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, vol. 10, Published for the Society by Warwick & Sapsford, Brisbane, 1894, p. 102. Details
• Bancroft, J., 'The Pituri Poison.', Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Queensland, vol. 1, Philosophical Society of Queensland, Brisbane, 1872, pp. 1-2. Details
• Bancroft, J., 'Pituri and Duboisia.', Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Queensland, vol. 2, Philosophical Society of Queensland, Brisbane, 1877, pp. 1-13. Details
• Bancroft, J., 'Pituri and Tobacco.', Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Queensland, vol. 3, Philosophical Society of Queensland, Brisbane, 1879, pp. 1-16. Details
• Bancroft, J., 'Duboisia Pituri', Wing's Southern Science Record, vol. 2, 1882, pp. 221- 222. Details
• Bancroft, Joseph, 'Indigenous medicinal plants (exhibit of specimens)', The Australasian Medical Gazette, vol. 13, L. Bruck, Sydney, 1894, p. 42. Details
• Ford, E., 'The Life and Influence of Joseph Bancroft, MD Bancroft Oration.', The Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 1, 1961, pp. 153-170. Details
• Mackerras, I. M. and Marks, Elizabeth N., 'The Bancrofts: a century of scientific endeavour [includes lists of publications]', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, vol. 84, no. 1, 1973, pp. 1-34. Details
• Maiden, J.H., 'Records of Queensland Botanists', Australasian Association for Advancement of Science, vol. xii, 1909, pp. 373-383. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Bancroft, Joseph', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1464386. Details

See also

• Cramond, T., 'The Fifty-sixth Bancroft Oration: 'a Transient popularity'', Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, vol. 18, no. 2, 1990, pp. 252-264. Details