Sir Francis Bacon's brother Anthony (1558-1601) was a vague presence
glimpsed in the shadows of his famous brother, until Daphne du Maurier's 1975
biography of the two brothers, Golden Lads. Dame
Daphne's original research in the Archives Departmentales at Montauban, France,
brought to light for the first time a document showing that Anthony was charged
with sodomy in the summer of 1586. His favourite page was Isaac Burgades, who
himself would forcibly "mount" a still younger page in the household,
David Boysson, and who told another page, Paul de la Fontayne, that there was
nothing wrong with sodomy. One of the lackeys, Barthelemy Sore, had left
Anthony's service because his master was wont to bugger all the boys and then
bribe them with sweetmeats to keep quiet. In France, convicted sodomites were
sentenced to death by le bucher (in 1563 Benoist Grealou, a priest at
nearby Moissac, was so convicted and brule tout vif).
Although "all the world knew that Monsieur Bacon was a bugger,"
Anthony was never executed, and no records of such facts can be found in any
English archives. He was probably paroled on good behaviour, but in any case
never suffered legal reprisal, for in September Henri, King of Navarre,
personally intervened, and wrote a letter to the King's Councillor:
I write now desiring you to bring his right of appeal promptly before the
judge and have it granted as expeditiously as possible. . . . He will know how
to repay us in kind for mercy shown to him.
The result is that the charge—though evidence was heard again in
November 1587—was not pressed. The case was so effectively suppressed that
no knowledge of it came to light until 1973, after the diligent researches of
Daphne du Maurier.
Anthony was plagued by crippling illness throughout his life—gout,
perhaps arthritis—and is convincingly portrayed as "a bird in a cage."
His occupation was that of a political correspondent, gathering information
through a wide network of reporters or spies, first for Secretary Walsingham at
Westminster, then for the Earl of Essex. Du Maurier persuasively suggests that
his principal informant, Tom Lawson, was also his lover, and the two men often
lived together until Anthony's death.
When Anthony left Mantaubon (with his Gascon page Jacques Petit) after the
scandal, he lived for a time with brother Francis at Gray's Inn, and the
biography paints a fine picture of quiet revelry there even though Anthony was
most of the time confined to his bed. Large sums of money were spent on drink
and the weekly purchase of beaver hats which they distributed amongst their
favourites. Somewhat later a bachelor establishment was set up at Anthony's
estate in Redbourn, which included his travelling companion Ned Selwyn, Thomas
Lawson, and Jacques Petit.
The prolific correspondence of this bird in the cage reveals much about this
tumultuous era—with constant threat of a Spanish invasion, usurpers to the
throne, political intrigues along the ladder of preferment—but
unfortunately not enough about Anthony the man. He was frank, forthright,
tender, perceptive, and an eminently sympathetic character, but it is hard to
tease out a truly intimate portrait. Unlike his brother, he never married.
His more personal letters were careful replies to his mother Lady Ann Bacon,
a fanatic religionist whose letters to her wayward sons are often little more
than monotonous lists of moral proverbs. She has a certain delightful appeal as
a vigorous and cantankerous old woman who will be nobody's fool, but ultimately
she is as obnoxious as any male chauvinist.
For a number of years Anthony lived at Essex House (with Tom Lawson) as an
important agent of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. When that ill-fated Earl was
acused, then convicted, of high treason, Anthony left the house and simply
disappeared. Du Maurier has been unable to trace his final residence or the
exact circumstances of his death, but has discovered—again for the first
time—his final burial place, St Olave's Church, Hart Street.
CITATION: If you cite this Web page, please use the following form of citation: Return to Sir Francis Bacon
Rescue
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Rictor Norton, "Anthony Bacon", Gay History and Literature, updated 14 June 2008 <http://rictornorton.co.uk/baconant.htm>.
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