Sir Edward Bacon (died 8 September 1618), of Shrubland Hall in the parish of

Coddenham Coddenham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located to the north of the A14 road (England), A14 road, 8 miles north of Ipswich, the parish also includes the hamlet of Coddenham Green. In 2005 ...

in Suffolk, England, was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

and an elder half-brother of the philosopher and statesman

Sir Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both n ...

Life

He was the third son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to Queen Elizabeth I, by his first wife Jane Fernley, a daughter of William Ferneley of Creeting St Peter in Suffolk. Like his two elder brothers he was educated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

and entered

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

for legal training. He became a

, representing Great Yarmouth (1576–1581) in Suffolk,

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13 ...

(1584) in Devon, Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (1586) and the County Seat of Suffolk (1593). He also served as

High Sheriff of Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Suffolk. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The Sheriff was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county a ...

in 1601, and was knighted in 1603. During the late 1570s Bacon travelled in continental Europe (Paris, Ravenna, Padua, Vienna). He stayed a longer period of time in Geneva, where he visited two leading Protestants Johannes Sturmius and Lambert Danaeus; Bacon lived in

Theodore Beza Theodore Beza ( la, Theodorus Beza; french: Théodore de Bèze or ''de Besze''; June 24, 1519 – October 13, 1605) was a French Calvinist Protestant theologian, reformer and scholar who played an important role in the Protestant Reformation ...

’s house in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

while a student of the latter. Bacon had returned to England by 1583.

Marriage and issue

In about 1581 he married Helen Little, daughter and heiress of Thomas Little of Shrubland Hall by his wife Elizabeth Lytton, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Robert Lytton of

Knebworth House Knebworth House is an English country house in the parish of Knebworth in Hertfordshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. Its gardens are also listed Grade II* on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. In its surrounding park is t ...

in Hertfordshire.BACON, Edward (1548-1618), of Bray, Berks. and Shrubland Hall, Suff. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 198

/ref> By his wife he had two sons who were also Members of Parliament: * Nathaniel Bacon (English politician), Nathaniel Bacon (1593–1660); *

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

(1600–1663).

Notes

References

* , subentry at end * J. E. Neale, ''The Elizabethan House of Commons'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)

External links

* 1618 deaths 16th-century births English MPs 1572–1583 Members of Gray's Inn High Sheriffs of Suffolk Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English MPs 1584–1585 English MPs 1586–1587 English MPs 1593 Edward People from Barham, Suffolk Members of the Parliament of England for Tavistock {{16thC-England-MP-stub