The Man Who Didn’t Succeed

It was expected that John Ralph Bankes would succeed his father Ralph as head of the historical Bankes estate, including Kingston Lacy and Corfe Castle.

But John was different.

A complex mix of eccentricity, personal sorrow and self-will led to alienation from his background and an inevitable solitary death in London.

• Who was John?
• Why did John agree to break the entail with Ralph, his father?
• Why the unsigned Deed of Gift leaving John half the estate?
• How important to John was his mother, Hilary?
• What was Ralph’s relationship with his housekeeper?
• What happened to Mary, John’s sister?

“Your extremely interesting book. Lord Fellowes has always been really fascinated about what went wrong for the Bankes family”

Lady Fellowes

“David Beardsley has uncovered remarkable details in this well-researched, engaging biography”.

Ed Perkins

“So well-written and sensitively handled in all the issues involved”.

Lalage Hall