Charles Neville Banks was an ophthalmic surgeon in Sydney, Australia. He was born in Finchley, London, on 28 September 1938, one of two sons. His father was Arthur Leslie Banks, a professor at Cambridge University. His mother, Eileen Mary Barrett, was a housewife. He attended St Faith's School, Cambridge, and the Leys School, also in Cambridge, where he gained prizes for piano, biology and religious knowledge. His medical education was at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and then Middlesex Hospital Medical School, where he gained certificates of proficiency in general pathology and ophthalmology. His was a house physician at Middlesex Hospital, a house surgeon at Addenbrooke's Hospital and then a house surgeon to the eye department at St Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1966 he became a resident surgical officer at Moorfields Eye Hospital. In 1969 he left to work for a year at St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital, returning to Moorfields as chief clinical assistant. Subsequently, his work was entirely in Australia. He first went on a working holiday in 1972, and then joined the practice of Miles Sterling-Lewis and set up in solo practice in 1976. He held honorary posts at Marrichville Hospital, Sydney, the Royal North Shore Hospital, Balmoral Naval Hospital and Brewarrium District Hospital. In addition, he was a consultant to the Low Vision Aid Clinic, Royal Blind Society, New South Wales, and an ophthalmologist in geriatric and rehabilitation medicine, North Sydney Area Health Service (Hornsby Hospital). He was a member of the archives committee at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists. His interests were essentially ophthalmological. He was a member of the board of optometrical registration, New South Wales, and a founder member of the Human Genetics Society of Australia. He remained unmarried. He died on 28 February 2010.