Sir Edmund Bacon, 13th Baronet

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edmund Castell Bacon, 13th and 14th Baronet KG, KBE, KStJ, JP (18 March 1903 – 30 September 1982), was a British landowner and businessman.

Bacon in February 1965.

Baronetcy edit

As the Bacon baronetcy of Redgrave in the County of Suffolk is the oldest extant English baronetcy (created in the Baronetage of England on 22 May 1611), Sir Edmund was the Premier Baronet of England.

He was both the 13th and 14th Baronet of Bacon, since the 8th Bacon Baronet of Mildenhall in the County of Suffolk (created in the Baronetage of England on 29 July 1627), had succeeded as the 7th Bacon Baronet of Redgrave in 1755 when his third cousin, the 6th Bacon Baronet of Redgrave, died without heirs.

Family edit

Sir Edmund was born in 1903 at Raveningham Hall, the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, 12th Baronet, and Constance Alice Leslie-Melville.[1] He was educated at Wixenford, Eton, and Trinity College, Cambridge.[2]

On 15 January 1936, he married Priscilla Dora Ponsonby (1913–2000), daughter of Sir Charles Ponsonby, 1st Baronet. They had five children.[3] Their daughter Sarah is married to Sir Paul Nicholson.[1]

Career edit

Sir Edmund was appointed deputy lieutenant of Norfolk in 1939.[1]

He commanded the 55th (Suffolk Yeomanry) Anti-Tank Regiment of the Royal Artillery in the Second World War and he was mentioned in despatches. He became Honorary Colonel of the 308 (Suffolk and Norfolk Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery between 1961 and 1967.[1]

He was appointed as a justice of the peace for Norfolk in 1944. He succeeded to the family baronetcies on 1 January 1947 and he was Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk between 1949 and 1982. Sir Edmund held several quango and business positions: chairman of British Sugar Corporation (1957–1968); Pro-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia (1964–1973); chairman of the Agricultural North East Development Council (1966–1982) and director of Lloyds Bank.[1]

Sir Edmund died on 30 September 1982, aged 79.[1]

Awards and decorations edit

 
Garter-encircled Arms of Sir Edmund Bacon, 13th Baronet, KG, KBE, KStJ, JP

Further reading edit

  • Lindsay, Donald, Sir Edmund (Castell) Bacon: a Norfolk life, ISBN 0-947656-01-4, Maldon: Plume, 1988

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Sir Edmund Castell Bacon, 13th and 14th Bt". The Peerage. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  2. ^ Old Public School Boy's Who's Who (St James Press, 1933), p. 26.
  3. ^ Joanna Constance Bacon (b. 12 March 1937), Lavinia Winifred Bacon (b. 7 June 1939), Elizabeth Albinia Bacon (b. 15 January 1944), Sarah Bacon (b. 1 June 1947), and the 14th and 15th Baronet, Sir Nicholas Hickman Ponsonby Bacon.
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk
1949–1978
Succeeded by
Academic offices
New post Pro-Chancellor of the
University of East Anglia

1964–1973
Succeeded by
Baronetage of England
Preceded by Baronet
of Redgrave
1947–1982
Succeeded by
Baronet
of Mildenhall
1947–1982