a sally gate. The Parliamentarians under the command of a Colonel Bingham reversed their jackets and were mistaken for Royalists. As a result, she was forced to surrender the castle. However, because she showed such courage she was allowed to keep the keys of the castle, which are now held at Kingston Lacy near Wimborne Minster, Dorset. The castle was slighted the same year it was captured by the orders of the House of Commons. It is recorded that her sons Ralph and Jerome bought the manor of Eastcourt on her behalf. Upon her death, the manor passed to her daughter Joanna Borlase, who in her turn passed it on to her daughters and co-heirs. Death Mary died on 11 April 1661 and was buried in St Martin's Church, Ruislip. On the south wall of the chancel inside the church there is a monument to Mary with this inscription: To the memory of Mary, Lady Bankes, the only daughter of Ralph Hawtery, of Riselip, in the county of Middlesex, esq., the wife and widow of Sir John Bankes, knight, late Lord Chief Justice of His Majesty's court of Common Pleas, and of the Privy Council of His Majesty King Charles I of blessed memory, who having had the honour to have borne with a constancy and courage above her sex, a noble proportion of the late calamities, and the restitution of the government, with great peace of mind laid down her most desired life the 11th day of April 1661. Sir Ralph Bankes her son and heir hath dedicated this. Lady Bankes Primary School is named after her in Ruislip Manor. References John Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 3 (London, 1837). Basil Duke Henning, The House of Commons, 1660-1690, Volume 1 (London, 1983) pp. 589–590. A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4, (London, 1924). Dorset Echo, www.thisisdorset.net, retrieved on 7 October 2009 Mary Cavaliers People from Purbeck District Women in the English Civil War 1598 births 1661 deaths 16th-century English women 17th-century English women Wives of knights