Major-General Sir Thomas MacDonald "Donald" Banks (31 March 1891 – 11 July 1975) was a British Army officer, senior civil servant and a founder member and first Chairman of the Guernsey Society. Family Banks was born in Guernsey on 31 March 1891, the son of Thomas Brownsort Banks, a stationer, and Margaret Elizabeth (née Roebuck). He had an elder sister, Blanche, and a younger brother, Maurice Rowley. He married Dorothea Webster, and they had one daughter, Dawn Louise, born in 1932. They lived in Lymington, Hampshire. Dorothea died in 1947. In 1948,Sir Donald married Elizabeth Bradley of Lymington, and they had two children together. They moved to Cadnam Lodge in the New Forest, where he kept a herd of Guernsey cattle. Early years He attended Elizabeth College, Guernsey between 1899 and 1909, where he was in the Shooting VIII 1908-9. Career He entered the Civil Service in 1909 in the Exchequer and Audit Department. In 1914, he passed the Civil Service Examination, and was appointed to the Secretary's Office of the General Post Office (GPO). He saw service in the First World War as commanding officer of the 10th (Service) Battalion Essex Regiment and the 8th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment. As a result of his actions, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), Military Cross (MC), the Croix de Guerre, and was mentioned in despatches twice. After World War I he continued with the Territorial Army, and commanded the Kensington Regiment from 1927 to 1931. He was Private Secretary to the Secretary of the GPO, and between 1920 and 1923 was Private Secretary to four Postmasters-General in succession. In 1924, he was appointed Deputy Controller of the Post Office Savings Bank, and became Controller in 1931. He became first Director-General of the Post Office in 1934, where he was responsible for the introduction of the emergency service '999', as well as the speaking clock ('TIM'). He was knighted in the New Years' Honours List of 1935. In 1936, he transferred to the Air Ministry, where he was appointed Permanent Secretary, in 1938 becoming first Permanent Under Secretary of State for Air. He was responsible for setting up the Empire Air Training Scheme, and travelled to Australia and New Zealand to discuss the manufacture of aircraft there. The Second World War he returned to military service, and was adjutant and Quartermaster General of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division. He served in