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"Night Watch," shows as the central
figure Captain Franz Banning-Coq, who,
although dying at an early age, made his
power and influence felt in a most won-
derful way. This picture is generally sup-
posed to represent a rally of the gTiard at
night from the guard house, which a name
on the picture states, but in fact represents
the members of a gun club as they are
about to leave their old quarters just prior
to moving into their new quarters on Sin-
gel Street. This picture was painted in
1642. The name was given it when the
picture was discovered many years after
it had been painted, in an old attic, and
the real purport of the picture was unknown,
but recent discoveries establish
the above statement as to its meaning.
At that time it was customary for prom-
inent organizations to have paintings
made of their members in groups. Franz
Banning's mother was a Banning of the
noble families, and married an apothecary
named Coq, from Bremen, against the
wishes of her parents. Their son Franz,
of his own accord, prefixed his last name
by his mother's name. Banning, making it
a hyphenated name.
From Holland, Franz Banning-Coq
went to Basel, where he studied law. Returning
to Amsterdam he soon became an
alderman, then a magistrate, and in a
short time burgomaster. The King of
Frankreich raised him to the nobility.
He built the building now used as the
King's Palace, but which at that time was
the City Hall or Governor's headquarters.
He died at an early age, childless, in the
midst of an already wonderful career.
Another famous painting by Van der
Heist, entitled "Celebrating the Peace of
Munster, or Conclusion of the 30 Year
War," which hangs alongside of the
"Night Watch" in the Royal Museum at
Amsterdam, has as its central figure Jacob
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
34
Banning, the Standard Bearer, which pic-
tures the members of a gun club gathered
at a banquet to celebrate the Westphalian
Peace in 1648.
The Banning coat-of-arms may be seen
on the ceiling of the throne room in the
King's palace in Amsterdam to this day,
as well as in church windows, on gravestones,
and in many other places. At
some unknown date, probably about 1500,
the Bannings went to England and settled
at what is now called Banningham in
Norfolk. At the present time no traces
of the Bannings can be found there, but
are clearly traceable to Midland and Lon-
don, from which places the different
branches now in existence seem to have
come.
The Bannings in England became prom-
inent in military and social life during the
sixteenth century, taking an active part
in the Crusade to the Holy Land, for
which a coat-of-arms was granted in London
in 1588. Two Peerages also were
created, both becoming^ extinct in the
seventeenth century. The first Peerage
was conferred on Sir Paul Bayning, Lord
Mayor of London, who, in his Patent of
Nobility, reverted to the original spelling
Banning, and became Viscount Banning.
His country seat was near Banningham,
in Norfolk.
One branch of the family in England
is about extinct, there being but one male
member now living, and it is thought his
only son is dead. Another branch has for
many years been of local importance,
having for several generations held in the
family the highly coveted ofiice of postmaster
of Liverpool, besides other posi-
tions of importance in the governmental
service.
Sometime in the seventeenth century
Bannings came, supposedly from Eng-
land, Ireland, Scotland, and elsewhere, to