A One-Name Study for the BARNUM/BARNHAM Surname

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Notes for Nicholas BACON

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Sir Nicholas Bacon studied at Cambridge University's Corpus Christi College. From there he went on to Gray's Inn, one of the Inns of Court where talented and aspiring young gentlemen from Oxford and Cambridge learned law. It was also a sort of preparatory school for service in the royal court and in the administration of the government. He would go on to become Queen Elizabeth's Lord Chancellor, the highest legal position of the land, an office that his son Francis would someday hold himself.

The following is from Alfred Dodd's book, The Marriage of Elizabeth Tudor, 1940. Sir Nicholas Bacon is the reputed father of Francis Bacon, but there is abundant evidence to prove that he was a foster-father only. He was the Lord Keeper to Queen Elizabeth, a sound lawyer and a witty man, reveling in classic literature. He was also a writer. A book he published had the result of excluding him from the Privy Council. Henceforth he wrote anonymously. He not only saw the joy of writing a book but he learned the value of anonymity.....the use of a pen-name. Sir Nicholas left an elaborate will. All of his children were well provided for, but Francis was left out entirely, thus indicating that his expectations lay elsewhere, which indeed they did, for he became a Gentleman-Pensioner of the Queen. Judging by the portraits of Francis Bacon, Sir Nicholas and Lady Bacon, it is quite impossible for Sir Nicholas to have been the blood father of Francis. He is cast in an entirely different mould from his foster-parents.

Nicholas Bacon is said to have been born at Chislehurst, in Kent, in 1509. He was the second son of Robert Bacon, of Drinkstone, in Suffolk, Esquire and Sheep-reeve to the Abbey of Bury Saint Edmunds. It is believed that he was educated at the abbey school. He speaks of his intimacy with Edmund Rougham, a monk of that house, who was noted for his wonderful proficiency in memory. He was admitted to the College of Corpus Christi, Cambridge, and took the degree of B.A. in 1526-7. He went to Paris soon afterwards, and on his return studied law at Gray’s Inn, being called to the Bar in 1533, Clerk to the Court of Augmentations. In 1546 he was made Attorney of the Court of Wards and Liveries, and continued as such under Edward VI. Upon the accession of Mary he conformed to the change of religion and retained his office during her reign. Nicholas Bacon and William Cecil, each being a widower, had married sisters. When Elizabeth came to the throne Cecil became her adviser. He was well acquainted with Nicholas Bacon’s sterling worth and great capacity for business, and availed himself of his advice and assistance. The Queen delivered to Bacon the great seal, with the title of Lord Keeper, on the 22nd December, 1558, and he was sworn of the Privy Council and knighted. By letters patent, dated 14th April, 1559, the full powers of a Chancellor were conferred upon him. In 1563 he narrowly escaped the loss of his office for alleged complicity in the issue of a pamphlet espousing the cause of the House of Suffolk to the succession. He was restored to favour, and continued as Lord Keeper until his death in 1579. The Queen visited him at Gorhambury on several occasions. Sir Nicholas Bacon, in addition to performing the important duties of his high office in the Court of Chancery and in the Star Chamber, took an important part in all public affairs, both domestic and foreign, from the accession of Elizabeth until his death. He first married Jane, daughter of William Fernley, of West Creting, Suffolk, by whom he had three sons and three daughters. For his second wife he married Anne, daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, by whom he had two sons, Anthony and Francis. It is of more importance for the present purpose to know what type of man was the father of Francis Bacon. The author of the Arte of English Poesie (1589) relates that he came upon Sir Nicholas sitting in his gallery with the works of Quintillian before him, and adds: "In deede he was a most eloquent man and of rare learning and wisdome as ever I knew England to breed, and one that joyed as much in learned men and good witts." This author, speaking of Sir Nicholas and Burleigh, remarks, "From whose lippes I have seen to proceede more grave and naturall eloquence then from all the oratours of Oxford and Cambridge."

In his Fragmenta Regalia Sir Robert Naunton describes him as "an archpeece of wit and wisdom," stating that "he was abundantly facetious which took much with the Queen when it was suited with the season as he was well able to judge of his times." Fuller describes him as "a man of rare wit and deep experience," and, again, as "a good man, a grave statesman, and a father to his country." Bishop Burnet speaks of him as "not only one of the most learned and pious men, but one of the wisest ministers this nation ever bred." The observations of the author of The Statesmen and Favourites of England in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth are very illuminating. "Sir Nicholas Bacon," he says, "was a man full of wit and wisdome, a gentleman and a man of Law with great knowledge therein." He proceeds: "This gentleman understood his Mistress well and the times better: He could raise factions to serve the one and allay them to suit the others. He had the deepest reach into affairs of any man that was at the Council table: the knottiest Head to pierce into difficulties: the most comprehensive Judgement to surround the merit of a cause: the strongest memory to recollect all circumstances of a Business to one View: the greatest patience to debate and consider; (for it was he that first said, let us stay a little and we will have done the sooner:) and the clearest reason to urge anything that came in his way in the Court of Chancery. . . . Leicester seemed wiser than he was, Bacon was wiser than he seemed to be; Hunsden neither was nor seemed wise. . . . Great was this Statesman’s Wit, greater the Fame of it; which as he would say, being nothing, made all things. For Report, though but Fancy, begets Opinion; and Opinion begets substance. . . . He neither affected nor attained to greatness: Mediocria firma, was his principle and his practice. When Queen Elizabeth asked him, Why his house was so little? he answered, Madam, my house is not too little for me, but you have made me too big for my House. Give me, said he, a good Estate rather than a great one. He had a very Quaint saying and he used it often to good purpose, That he loved the Jest well but not the loss of his Friend. . . . He was in a word, a Father of his country and of Sir Francis Bacon."
The following is from the book by Alfred Dodd, Francis Bacon's Personal Life-Story (1939 ). Sometime in February, 1579, Francis Bacon dreamt that Sir Nicholas Bacon's house was plastered over with black mortar, and he awoke with a feeling that something had happened to a member of the family. A few days later he learned that Sir Nicholas had died suddenly on the 20th of February. The psychic premonition is recalled years afterwards in the Sylva Sylvarum (1627) as worthy of record, an out-of-the-way fact of Nature demanding an explanation. A month later (20th of March) he is recalled to England from France bearing dispatches and a letter from Sir Amyas Paulet in which Francis is spoken of as being in good hope, endued with many and singular parts, and one who, if God gave him life, would prove a very able and sufficient subject to do her Highness good and acceptable service.(State Paper Office; French Correspondence). In view of what we already know, he went direct to the Queen -- the ambassador's letter providing an excuse for the interview -- in an effort to ascertain what were his future prospects: Was he to take up his rightful place as her son or must he still continue to masquerade as the son of the late Sir Nicholas? He was apparently told to go to Lady Bacon's home -- she was living at York House, next door to the Palace -- and await developments. Sir Nicholas Bacon had died a very wealthy man. The Queen had loaded him with money and presents. In December, only a few weeks prior to his death, he had made an elaborate Will, which, when read, disclosed that he had left large sums to his children by a first wife, and a sufficient income for Lady Anne and her son Anthony; but the name of Francis was not even mentioned. He was not left a solitary penny. Why? Because Francis was not his child. This significant and deliberate omission by a careful and astute lawyer tells the truth of the real parentage of Francis with more deadly emphasis than even his registration of birth as "Mr. Franciscus Bacon". Sir Nicholas knew that the lad's prospects lay elsewhere, with the Queen herself, and he was not going to do anything to allow her to shirk her parental responsibility. She must provide for him. Sir Nicholas purposely left the lad nothing so as to force the Queen's hand and to leave her without an excuse for providing for him and recognizing her own son. On this very point, Parker Woodward, a solicitor, writes: On the 12th December, 1578, Sir Nicholas Bacon who had been much enriched by the Queen had made an elaborate Will wherein he made full provision for his first family, his widow and his child Anthony, but left nothing whatever to Francis. He had three sons and three daughters. The Will may be seen at Somerset House. - Early Life, p. 18. If it were not an actual fact that Francis was the Queen's son, is it not strange that neither Lady Bacon, nor Anthony, nor Francis, nor any member of the family expressed astonishment that Sir Nicholas Bacon's Will made no monetary provision for Francis? The truth is self-evident: He was not mentioned in the Will because he was not of the Bacon family. Even when Francis, many times afterwards, was desperately pressed for monies, he never once complained of harsh financial treatment or neglect by his "father." He always speaks of Sir Nicholas with respect and love, there being a bond between them which was never once broken by a quarrel. The complaints of Francis in his correspondence are always directed against the Queen and her Ministers. The reason is clear: Francis knew he had not the slightest claim as a son on the estate of Sir Nicholas or on the Bacon Family, and that all his future was bound up with the Queen's WILL. She was the only person to whom he could turn for financial assistance. Imagine the feelings that swept over him as he crossed the threshold of York House for the first time after his three years' Continental travel; and his thoughts as he waited night after night for some message from the Queen....the message that would announce his recognition......the message that never came. Sir Nicholas death and his lack of a monetary allowance had created a crisis in his affairs. His thoughts would race on: the Queen must acknowledge him, must provide for him, he must be allowed to take up his proper position in the state. He had the right to stand next to the Throne. Why shouldn't he? How could he enforce his claim? He was in a situation of grave perplexity. Later he was to cry out to the Queen in his agony of mind: I see you withdraw your favour from me, and now I have lost many friends for your sake: I shall lose you, too. You have put me like one of those that the Frenchmen call Enfans perdu...(lost children); so have you put me into matters of envy without Place or without Strength. -- Francis Bacon to Queen Elizabeth, Apologia. Could anything be told more directly? Francis Bacon was indeed a "Lost Child," lost, concealed purposely from the world. Perplexity and bewilderment that had dogged him like silent ghosts through the joyous days of Paris and Navarre, now stood before him waiting like mendicants for his decision. They waited and they would not go away nor be gainsaid. At last they bred within him that fierce irresolution that found so powerful an expression in Hamlet.....the Prince who could not succeed to his father's Throne, any more than Francis could succeed to Elizabeth's .....Hamlet who lived on the sword-edge of a balance not knowing what to do for the best....to wait, wait, or to act.
Sir Nicholas was buried in Saint Paul's Cathedral.

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