James Charles Bancks was born in Enmore, New South Wales, Australia on 10 May 1889, the son of an Irish railway worker, John Spencer Bancks.[1] Bancks left school at the age of 14 and found employment with a finance company. His first illustrations were accepted and published by The Comic Australian in 1913, followed by The Arrow in 1914. This encouraged Bancks to submit work to The Bulletin, where he was offered a permanent position, which he accepted and remained until 1922. Throughout this period he was studying art under Dattilo Rubbo and Julian Ashton and supplying freelance cartoons to the Sunday Sun.
He created Ginger (later Ginger Meggs) for the Sunday Sun and Sun News-Pictorial. Bancks created The Blimps for the Melbourne Sun in 1923, and this daily strip ran until 1925, the year when he launched Mr. Melbourne Day by Day for the Melbourne Sun-Pictorial.
Plaque in Ginger Meggs Park, Hornsby, which was named after Bancks's character.
On 15 October 1931 Bancks married Jessie Nita Tait[2] (daughter of theatrical entrepreneur, Edward Joseph 'E.J.' Tait[3]) at Darling Point.[1] She first worked as fashion adviser to her father's enterprise, since 1933 she published the column "Fashion Parade" in The Australian Women's Weekly.[4] Jessie died in childbirth on 22 November 1936.[5][6] In 1938 he married Patricia Quinan in Yuma, Arizona in the United States.[1][7] They adopted a daughter, the artist Sheena Bancks, who married the actor Michael Latimer.
On 26 July 1997, the Mayor of Hornsby, New South Wales formally named a park in Hornsby after Bancks's character Ginger Meggs. The area had an association with Bancks because he used to spend time there in his childhood. The park is located on Valley Road, adjacent to a creek that was named Jimmy Bancks Creek.
On 27 April 2023, a plaque to commemorate Bancks was formally unveiled at a ceremony at Woollahra Libraries attended by Councillor Richard Shields, Councillor Mary-Lou Jarvis, Kellie Sloane - Member for Vaucluse, Bancks' descendants, cartoonists, and Library local history staff. The plaque is to be installed at his longtime home in Point Piper. The Woollahra Council Plaque Scheme honours exceptional people or events associated with the local government area that have made a significant impact on life in the area or Australia as a nation. It was the 41st plaque in the library's Historical Plaque Scheme.
