Thomas Bacon (died 1 January 1559) was the fifteenth

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

of Gonville Hall,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

(later

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

) from 1552.C.H. Cooper and T. Cooper, ''Athenae Cantabrigienses'', I: 1500-1585 (Deighton, Bell & Co., Cambridge 1858)
p. 191
(Google). Bacon was educated at Gonville Hall, graduating B.A. 1517–8, M.A. 1521, D.D. 1556–7. He held a scholarship from

Michaelmas Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in some Western liturgical calendars on 29 September, ...

1517 to 1519, and a fellowship from 1519 to 1527. In 1521 he was Principal of Physwick Hostel, a university hall annexed to Gonville Hall.

John Venn John Venn, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA (4 August 1834 – 4 April 1923) was an English mathematician, logician and philosopher noted for introducing Venn diagrams, which are used in l ...

Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College
pp. 28-29 He served as a chaplain to King Henry VIII, and held the following church livings: * Rector of

Hockwold Hockwold cum Wilton (''"Hock/mallow wood and willow-tree farm/settlement"'') is 10 miles west of Thetford, Norfolk, England and is in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. It is located near several USAF airbases, notably RAF Lakenheath a ...

, Norfolk, 1529–39; *Rector of

Chelsfield Chelsfield is an area in south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley and the historic county of Kent. It lies south of Goddington, west of Well Hill, north of Pratt's Bottom and east of Green Street Green. The area is ...

, Kent, 1532–59; * Rector of

Barrow, Suffolk Barrow is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk (district), West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about eight miles west of Bury St Edmunds. According to Eilert Ekwall the meaning of the village name is grove or wood, hill or moun ...

, 1539; * Canon of Stoke-by-Clare; * Canon of Ely Cathedral, 1544–59; * Vicar of

Hoxne Hoxne ( ) is a village in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, about five miles (8 km) east-southeast of Diss, Norfolk and south of the River Waveney. The parish is irregularly shaped, covering the villages of Hoxne, Cross Street ...

, Suffolk. Bacon was appointed Master of Gonville Hall in 1552. On Queen Mary's Visitation to Cambridge in 1557, the bodies of two deceased reformers were exhumed and burned; according to Venn, the arrangements for this were made at Bacon's lodge at Gonville Hall. When in 1557

John Caius John Caius (born John Kays ; 6 October 1510 – 29 July 1573), also known as Johannes Caius and Ioannes Caius, was an English physician, and second founder of the present Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Biography Early years Caius was ...

refounded Gonville Hall as Gonville and Caius College, Caius' statutes appointed Bacon Master of the new foundation. Caius' character assessment of Bacon was not positive: ''homo certe gravis, mitis, et amabilis, sed custos inutilis et negligens'' (certainly a serious, gentle, and amicable man, but a useless and negligent custodian). Bacon died at

on 1 January 1559 and was buried there on 3 January; he was succeeded as Master by John Caius.

Offices Held

References

1559 deaths Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Masters of Gonville Hall, Cambridge Masters of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Year of birth unknown {{England-reli-bio-stub