Author: Bacon, Robert
Biography:
BACON, Robert (1766-1861: ancestry.co.uk)
He was probably born on 19 Sept. 1766 at Holt, Norfolk, possibly the son of Robert and Mary Bacon who had buried an infant son, Robert, the previous year. There is no record of his baptism but CCEd gives an exact date and location and he gave Holt as his birthplace in the 1851 Census. Nothing is known of his education and, for reasons unknown, he went to university late. He was awarded LLD at the University of Glasgow in 1800 while serving at Hertingfordbury, Herts. He then went to Emmanuel College Cambridge (matric. 1799, LLB 1806), and was ordained deacon (1802) and priest (1803). He was Curate of Hunstanton (1802-42), Sedgeford (1809-32), Ringstead (1804-15), Perpetual Curate of Fring (1809-62), and Rector of Wolverton from 1836 (all Norfolk). He married first Margaret Henshall, on 7 July 1793 at St. George’s, Hanover Square. They had a daughter, Ann, baptised on 6 June 1794 at St. Luke’s Chelsea. Margaret Bacon may have died in Lambeth in 1797. He then married Mary Ann Hickman on 21 Nov. 1799 at Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire. She died on 24 July 1813 and was buried on 1 Aug. at Hertingfordbury. Elegiac Stanzas (1813), written from Ringstead, records her death. He then married Susan Baker (1778-1852) on 20 Apr. 1819 at Cawston, Norfolk, with his daughter as one of the witnesses. They are recorded living together with his daughter and granddaughter in the 1841 and 1851 Censuses. He died on 21 May 1861 at Fring, leaving an estate of under £1000. In addition to the two works listed here, he was an occasional contributor of poetry to the Norfolk Chronicle and author of theological tracts and essays defending the Established Church: Theological Essays (1829), A Scriptural View of the Ordinance of Baptism (1843), and Brief Strictures on Tractarian Notions (1846). (ancestry.co.uk 14 Aug. 2022; findmypast.co.uk 14 Aug. 2022; CCEd 14 Aug. 2022; Cambridge Intelligencer 30 Nov. 1799; Norfolk Chronicle 24 Apr. 1819; Bury and Norwich Post 28 July 1813, 24 Mar. 1852; Suffolk Chronicle 1 June 1861) AA