Nathaniel Bacon MP (1546 - 1622)

Ancestors Descendants

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Family 1.2 In Office 1.3 Note: 2 Sources

Biography

Family

Nathaniel Bacon was the second son of Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper, and his wife Jane Fernley. He was born about 1546 at his father's seat of Redgrave in Suffolk, one of three sons and three daughters of this marriage who survived to adulthood. Lady Jane Fernley Bacon died in 1552, and Nicholas Bacon married secondly Anne Cooke, with whom he had sons Anthony and Francis.^{[1] [2]}

On 29 June 1569, Nathaniel Bacon married his cousin Anne Gresham (illegitimate daughter of Sir Thomas Gresham, who married Anne Fernley, his mother Jane Fernley's sister). Before the marriage Nathaniel made the odd request that the bride spend a period of time under the tutelage of his own stepmother, Lady Anne Cooke Bacon, to prepare her for the role of his wife - which raises questions about the nature of the relationship between Anne Gresham and her stepmother. Since Sir Thomas Gresham's only legitimate child, his son Richard, had died, Anne Gresham was his heir and brought a substantial to the marriage, including the manors of Langham, Marston, Hemby and Combs, adding to the estate Nathaniel acquired from his father, who gave him the manor of Stiffkey in 1571, after his marriage.^[2]

The marriage produced three daughters, all named in his 1614 Will as heirs and as executors: ^[3]

Anne - b. 1572, m. John Townshend, d. 1622

Elizabeth - b. 7 August 1573, m. Thomas Knyvet, d. 1632

Winifred - b. 1578, m. Sir Robert Gawdy , d. before 1639

There were also at least two sons who died in infancy.

Anne Gresham Bacon died 1594/5 and was buried in St John the Baptist Church at Stiffkey, where Nathaniel had constructed a monument.^{[2] [4]}

On 21 July 1597, Nathaniel Bacon married secondly Dorothy, daughter of Arthur Hopton and widow of William Smyth, from which marriage was no issue.^[4] Dorothy Smyth's son Owen Smyth had been a ward of Nathaniel Bacon after his father's death, and he made it a priority in his 1614 Will to pay his debts to "my son Owen Smyth". This Will gives clear indications of some animosity between the Bacons and the Hoptons in his family. Dorothy is referred to only as "my wife", not "my loving wife" as was customary. He speaks of a quarrel between him and his stepson and begs the family not to continue it.

Besides, I have given my wife 400l a year more than I assured her before marriage, to content her and not to deprive me in disposing of the inheritance. I have also conveyed to her son Owen Smyth, 100 marks a year in Eccles, which is to come to him if I do not otherwise dispose of it, although he has unkindly provoked me, and they wronged him who advised him thereto, but I hope that God may turn the heart of my wife not to wrong me.^[3]

Repeated reference to "my heirs" suggests also that he might still have hopes of children - of sons - from this second marriage.

Unfortunately, his wish of an amicable settlement of the inheritance was not to be fulfilled. Sir NIcholas Bacon died 7 November 1622 and was buried next to his first wife and oldest daughter in the tomb he had prepared seven years before. The date of his death was never added to the place he had prepared in the inscription.^[5] Dorothy Bacon survived her husband, and upon her death in 1629, she was buried with her first husband, William Smyth.^[2]

Note: Other sources have given the name of Dorothy Hopton's son as William Roberds Smith.^[6]

In Office

Nathaniel Bacon was educated for the law and public office. He and his brothers were all sent to Trinity College Cambridge in 1561 but left without taking a degree, Nathaniel being admitted to Gray's Inn 16 December 1562. He was named an "ancient" there in 1576.^[7]

Nathaniel Bacon was not a courtier; his interests and activities centered on Norfolk, where he filled the offices of Justice of the Peace and Sheriff, as well as representing the country in Parliament (Tavistock 1571 & 1572; Norfolk 1584, 1593 & 1604; King's Lynn 1597) and serving on numerous committees, where much of the real work of Parliament was done. He was active in office until his last year:

J.p. Norf. 1575-d.;10 commr. eccles. causes, Norwich, Norf. 1575-7,11 piracy, Norf. 1577,12 grain 1586;13 dep. steward of duchy of Lancaster, Norf., Suff. and Cambs. 1583-99, steward 1599-1603;14 sheriff, Norf. 1586-7, 1599-1600;15 collector, Privy Seal loans, Norf. 1589-90, 1597-8;16 commr. recusancy, Norf. 1591,17 inquiry, hemp and flax patent abuses, Norf. and Suff. 1592,18 inquiry, militia, Norf. 1594,19 musters, Norf. 1596, 1598, 1614;20 dep. lt. Norf. 1596-d.;21 freeman, King’s Lynn, Norf. 1597;22 high steward of Torrington manor, Norf. by 1598;23 commr. impressment of mariners, Norf. 1598, 1620,24 sewers, 1600-1607,25 Fenland 1605-8,26 River Gleane 1609-18,27 inquiry into boundaries and limits, Cambs. and Ely 1602;28 feodary, coroner, escheator and clerk of the market of Methwold, Norf. 1604;29 commr. subsidy, Norf. 1608;30 steward of East Dereham manor, Norf. by 1608;31 collector aid, Norf. 1609, for Princess Eliz. 1612-13;32 commr. sea breaches, Norf. 1610, 1616,33 oyer and terminer, Norf. and Suff. 1617, Eastern circ. 1618-d.,34 subsidy, Norf. 1621-2.35^[2]

He was knighted at Whitehall in July 1604, although not made Knight of the Bath, as some sources incorrectly claim, probably confusing him with a nephew.^[8]

Like most of the Bacons of this age, Sir Nathaniel Bacon was a puritan, a zealous supporter of godly preachers. His religious convictions influenced much of his activity in the offices he held. As a JP, he was strict in the regulation of alehouses and drunkenness, and arrested Catholic recusants while supporting such illegal religious puritan activities as "prophesying". In Parliament, he was active in support of his constituents on issues of importance to them, such as fisheries, flood defenses, and the export of corn.

After the succession of King James I to the English throne, Sir Nathaniel Bacon moved into active opposition, following his election as MP for Norfolk in 1604. He was a member of several committees on religion, attempting to urge changes in the religious settlement of Queen Elizabeth to favor puritan views, and to eliminate vestiges of "popery" in the Established Church. He was particularly opposed to the activities of the bishops in the House of Lords, who tended to thwart his proposals. The king, however, supported the existing establishment and the bishops, and little could be accomplished by the puritan Members.

Bacon also worked against the establishment of more royal monopolies and the numerous requests for subsidies by the king, which he considered an onerous burden on the taxpayers. He urged the House to "stay, and pause (in discussions of subsidies), till the grievances be proceeded in."^[2]

It is easy to foresee, in the events of Sir NIcholas Bacon's later Parliamentary career, the conflicts between king and Parliament that would lead eventually to the Civil War. But this would be the business of the Nicholas Bacon of the next generation, who would serve in the Long Parliament of 1640.

Note:

Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey should not be confused with either of his nephews: Nathaniel Bacon KB, the painter, of Culford or Nathaniel Bacon MP of Ipswich. ^[5] Nor was he one of the Nathaniel Bacons who went to VIrginia.

Sources

1. ↑ The Visitations of Suffolk 1612. Exeter: W. Pollard, 1882. p. 109 Bacon of Redgrave
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} History of Parliament Online: Bacon, Nathaniel (1546-1622), of Stiffkey, Irmingland, Norf.) Bacon of Stiffkey
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Calendar of state papers, domestic series, of the reign of James I". Green, Mary Anne Everett, ed. Her Majesty's Public Record Office. London : Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts, 1857. p. 541. Will
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Landed Families of Britain and Ireland - part 3. Bacon of Stiffkey
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} The Gentleman's Magazine United Kingdom, F. Jefferies, 1826. [1]
6. ↑ Francis Blomefield, 'Hundred of South Erpingham: Irmingland', in An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 6 (London, 1807), pp. 320-326. British History Online. Irmingland
7. ↑ Venn: Cambridge Alumni. [2]
8. ↑ Shaw, William Arthur. The Knights of England. London: Sherratt and Hughes. p. 134. Bacon</li></ol>

See Also:

• Wikipedia:Nathaniel_Bacon_(died_1622)
• Biographia Britannica, Or The Lives Of The Most Eminent Persons Who Have Flourished in Great Britain and Ireland From The Earliest Ages Down To Present Times, Volume The First, p. 369, Edward Gibson, Presented At The Court of King George, September 26, 1774, The University of Lausanne Collection.
• Dictionary of National Biography, Bacon, Nicholas (Lord Keeper), London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
• Townsend, Capt. Charles Hervery. Remembrance Made By Sir Nathaniel Bacon, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., 1896)
• Vol. 50, Page 64: "buried at Stifkey, Norfolk, Nov. 7, 1622"
• History of Parliament online: BACON, Nathaniel (1546-1622), of Stiffkey, Irmingland, Norf
• Stiffkey : St John the Baptist : Register of unspecified type : "Parish Register" database, FreeREG (https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/5a8c0ac6f493fd6c415de0c6 : viewed 2 Oct 2020) baptism Francis Gawdy 24 Jun 1612