Charles Blair Banks was born 14 May 1857 in Edinburgh
Parish, Midlothian, Scotland, the second youngest of eight children of George
W. Banks and Janet Black. Charles’ father, George had a lucrative
business as a shoemaker, employing six men, according to the 1851 Scotland
Census. But he apparently was not very good with money because between 1856 and
1860 he appeared before the Edinburgh Bankruptcy Court five times. Then, in
1861 the court issued a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear. The
1861 Scotland Census shows Janet living alone with her children, with her
eldest son, John Alexander, listed as the head of the household, his occupation
being listed as “classical tutor.” George was boarding with his brother and
working as a journeyman boot maker. Charles was living with his mother’s sister,
Agnes Black.
On January 27, 1864, Charles’ mother passed away at
the age of 46, followed six years later by his father on June 28,1870. After
the loss of both parents, Charles and his siblings faced a period of upheaval,
scattered among relatives and forced to grow up quickly.
In 1871 he was living with his sisters,
Margaret and Jessie, and his younger brother, Francis, in Midlothian. But a
year later, on January 15, 1872, he was taken in by his aunt, Janet Laws, who
signed Charles and his brother Thomas into Indentured Apprenticeship in the
Merchant Navy. Charles’ indenture was for 4 years and Thomas’ for 3 aboard the
Stornoway, a British tea clipper under Captain J. Waugh. (The Stornoway would
eventually wreck at the mouth of the Thames on June 7, 1873, under Capt. G.
Greener.) In 19th century United Kingdom boys between the ages of 14 and 16
years were indentured, or bound by contract, to be an apprentice on merchant
vessels for a fixed period of time to be trained as seamen for the merchant
navy. These “training ships” were partially funded by the government to
maintain a strong Royal Naval Reserve. The Stornoway was one of these training
vessels, making voyages through the Mediterranean.
Charles ended his indenture on February 25, 1876, at the age of 18, having
served on the Stornoway, Marion, Valparaiso, Henrietta, Southern Cross,
Cumberland, Ella, and Buda. On July 12, 1880, he applied for the position of
2nd Mate, making him third in command on the Buda. He was approved for this
position on July 14, 1880. On January 22, 1881, he applied for and received his
certification as Only Mate, placing him in command should the Master Mate (2nd
behind the captain) be incapacitated. By this time, he had served five years at
sea and had become an accomplished seaman.
He followed the sea for about eleven years during which time,
according to great-grandmother Emily, he sailed around the world seven times
and was once shipwrecked in the treacherous Bay of Biscay. It is said that his brothers eventually
jumped ship in New Zealand.
After his baptism in 1882, Charles felt called to the
mission field and he joined the American Baptist Mission Union (ABMU) who sent
him to the Belgian Congo where he witnessed firsthand the urgent medical needs
of the local people.
In 1883 he returned
to England to study medicine at the University of London. In 1885 Charles attended a religious meeting at Dame Agnes Weston’s Royal Sailors Rest in
London with a friend, Jack Murphy. While there, Jack introduced him to a
charming woman by the name of Fanny Tiptaft. At a later meeting he spotted Miss
Tiptaft again and greeted her, but when she turned to him it was not Fanny but
her twin sister Emily! “Sir,” she said, “I believe you have mistaken me for my
sister!” His error was his good fortune, as their friendship turned into a
courtship and they were married in Hackney, England on 30 Dec 1886. Emily, who
had planned to serve as a missionary in China, found that the Lord’s plan was
for her to accompany her new husband to Africa.
Charles and Emily left England April 30, 1887, to return to
Africa, arriving at Wangata, Etat Independent du Congo many weeks later, on September
13, 1887, once again under the ABMU where they would serve for the next 13
years.
It was a most unusual honeymoon for the young, married
couple.
They first lived in Wangata, the most advanced station on
the Upper Congo, in a native clay hut. The conditions of life there would have
daunted any ordinary worker.
The unrest
in the region was deeply challenging, and just then the difficulties of the
position were accentuated by the fact that one of the chiefs of the place had
recently been killed by the Belgians.
Ironically,
their lack of military protection may have spared them, as it distinguished
them from the Belgian forces
When they landed in Wangata, the natives thought Emily was a
ghost. They had never seen a white woman
before, and she was particularly fair and dressed in white. They eventually accepted Emily and treated
her with much reverence. Her uniqueness
inspired both awe and concern, and the villagers worried about her safety. Together,
Charles and Emily began a life of service marked by resilience, faith, and a
deep commitment to the people of the Congo.
The Banks soon moved the station to Bolengi, a few miles
away. For the next 12 years in Bolenge,
with only one furlough, Charles faced every challenge head-on. Though still unfamiliar with white women, the
villagers were especially unsettled by Emily’s pale complexion and white
attire…and they were suspicious and frightened of her. But Emily's tender ways
toward them soon earned her the name "White Mama." They called
Charles “Mondele”or ‘Banksisi” and believed him to be a great hunter due to his
skill with his rifle when he would accompany the tribesmen hunting for game.
In the midst of building houses and planting all kinds of
fruit trees, Charles translated Mark’s gospel, Romans, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2, and
3 John and Jude, as well as several songs, to the Lonkundo language. Emily
taught the natives English while learning their native tongue and taught them
to read.
Crowds of villagers came to Charles seeking help with their
ailments, with sleeping sickness being especially rampant. Of a hundred cases
of hemorrhagic fever, he did not lose one. His experience in dealing with the
disease was so appreciated back home in England that, only a few weeks before
his death, the Journal of Tropical Medicine published a lengthy paper by him on
the subject.
Charles was an expert marksman and a skilled hunter. If the natives were hungry, he would go out
and shoot something for them to eat. A
group of men who had come with hostile intentions saw him shoot a bird on the wing with his
rifle from a moving canoe and let drop their spears. “If that man’s stick looks at us, we are dead
men,” they said.
Charles and Emily welcomed their first
child, Marguerite on September 13, 1888. The natives adored Marguerite, calling
her Bona Owa Wangata—child of Wangata, and marveled at her whiteness and
beauty. In June 1889, after a period of illness that would not seem to abate,
Emily and Marguerite returned to England to her family while Charles remained
behind on the Congo. It took her many months of care and treatment before she
recovered enough to return to Charles and their work with the natives of the
Congo. In 1890 she left Marguerite in the care of her parents and sisters and
returned to Wangata. Upon meeting Charles, she found that he had built a home
in the village of Bolenge, four miles down the river from Wangata. He built it
by hand, surrounded it with gardens and cleared land, and even crafted her
furniture.
After settling in Charles and Emily invited their tribespeople
to come in and see the new “hut” that their Mondele had built for his wife.
While the crowd milled about looking at this and that, a strange man entered
the house and approached Emily, saying something to her that she did not
understand. A young native woman was standing nearby and turned on the man
saying, “How dare you talk to our White Woman in such words! Go away!” Later
Emily found Charles at the top of the steps leading to the seven-foot veranda.
The same stranger was coming up the steps and speaking to Charles. A hush came
over the crowd, and the tanned face of their White Man turned pale. His hand
shot out, and he took the intruder by the throat and shook him violently, then
he kicked the man down the steps with his heavily booted foot. The man picked
himself up and slunk away, and one of the natives asked Charles, “What would
you do, White Man, if he had taken her?” Charles gave a look at his gun and
made a gesture as if firing it, as his only reply. The crowd began murmuring,
both inside and outside the house—it was just one word said repeatedly: “Ekila,
Ekila, Ekila.” It meant forbidden, sacred. It was used to describe only things
to be feared; thus, the White Woman was sacred and safe for all the years that
followed. Emily never dared ask Charles what the man had said. Whatever it was
remained a mystery—one Emily chose never to uncover.
The tribe was in awe of the love the White
Man had for his White Woman. In the eyes of the villagers, the love between
Charles and Emily was not just rare—it was sacred. And in that sacredness, they
found protection, reverence, and a bond that would endure for years to come.
In March 1891 Charles and Emily welcomed their second child,
Charles Sidney James Banks, to their family and then in May 1892 a second son,
Alan Herbert. With Charles due for furlough, and both sons in fragile health,
the family returned to England. Upon their return to London, they found their
little Marguerite, in the care of Emily’s family, had grown into a lovely
little girl. They went to North Weald on the East Coast of England to rest, as
Charles and Emily were both worn down from recurrent attacks of fever. While
there, a daughter Emmaline Frances, was born in August 1894.
Charles returned to Bolenge when his furlough was over, and
when Emmaline was 8 months old Emily followed. They continued their work until
their last child, Kenneth Alexander, was born in February 1898. Emily visited
the villages one last time to say goodbye and then returned to England with Charles
several months later after he prepared the mission for its successor. When he
left Africa he knew it was for the last time as the hard life, fevers, and
climate had taken their toll. He arrived home in May and spent the summer and
autumn reacquainting himself with his children. Though distance had marked much
of their early years, the children’s love for their father was fierce and
unwavering.
Both Emily and Charles had suffered many fevers during their
years in the Congo. In December 1900
Charles took a train to London to seek the help of doctors, but they could give
him no help. On the train to
Bournemouth, he slept by an open window and got a chill that brought on yet
another fever. On December 29, Charles
passed away leaving Emily with five children, the oldest 12. Knowing the end was near, he told a friend,
"I long to go, I am so weary; but it does seem selfish to go away and
leave Mrs. Banks alone with five children. I must get well to help her."
But it was too late. Following 24 hours of unconsciousness, Charles Blair Banks
died at the age of 43.
In the years that followed, Emily moved with her children to
the United States where she lived in the vicinity of Portland, Oregon until her
death at the age of 87.
Charles Blair Banks lived a life of service, courage, and
devotion—both to his mission and to his family. Though his years were few, his
impact was lasting. Emily, steadfast and resilient, carried their legacy
forward in a new land, raising their children with the same quiet strength that
had once earned her the name “White Mama.” Their story, rooted in faith and
sacrifice, continues to be told through generations.
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