Revolutionary Georgi Bankov

Georgi Petrov Bankov, also called "Komitata" and "the Major", was a Bulgarian revolutionary who participated in major events including the Bulgarian Volunteer Corps and the Kresna-Razlog Uprising.

He was born in 1845 in the village of Belitsa, then in the Ottoman Empire. After the April Uprising he left his native village for Constantinople and later emigrated to Romania, where he joined the revolutionary emigrant community. During the Russo-Turkish War he enlisted as a volunteer in the Fourth Volunteer Battalion under Major Pyotr Redkin and fought at Stara Zagora, Shipka and Sheynovo.

After the Treaty of Berlin was signed, he joined the resistance movement and became a member of the "Edinstvo" (Unity) committee in Gorna Dzhumaya. Bankov played a key role in organising the Kresna-Razlog Uprising, serving as voivode of a detachment and deputy to the chief voivode. After the uprising he settled in Dolna Banya, where he trained recruits in the Eastern Rumelian militia. He actively participated in the Unification of the Principality and Eastern Rumelia.

Two of his sons, Ivan and Sava, participated in the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising, while three others, Petar, Dimitar and Pavel, joined the Balkan War. In 1923, Bankov became an honorary citizen of Gabrovo and an honorary member of the Union of Reserve Non-Commissioned Officers. He held the Order of Bravery, Fourth Class. Georgi Petrov Bankov died in 1932 according to some sources, or in 1934 according to others.