Person    | Male  Born 22/1/1561  Died 9/4/1626

Sir Francis Bacon

Categories: Philosophy

Born York House near Strand. Died in Highgate at Arundel House, the home of his friend, Thomas Howard, Lord Arundel. The site is now occupied by St. Michael's Church, South Grove. Travelling towards Highgate, he chose to make use of the snow on the ground to examine the effect of cold on the speed of decay of meat. His experiment involved stuffing a chicken with snow. Bacon caught a cold, and died of bronchitis. We have no news on the chicken. This standard account is recorded in John Aubrey’s Brief Lives c.1690. Trouble is, records show there was no snow on the ground that spring. An alternative account is given by Bacon himself. Prior to dying he wrote a letter (unfinished) to Arundel apologising for turning up without notice. He explains that he had been carrying out some experiments on himself in London and on the way home he had become violently sick. No unfortunate chicken involved in this version.

All that remains of Arundel House is The Old Hall in South Grove. Sadly there is no plaque there, but nearby Bacon Lane commemorates his death. Married in St Marylebone church in 1606.

The Essays: Instauratio Magna et Novum Organum, History of the Reign of Henry VII, De Dignitate et Aligmentis Scientiarum.

Student of Lincoln's Inn 1576
Barrister 1582
Reader 1588
Dean of Chapel 1589
MP for Middlesex 1593
Solicitor General 1607
Treasurer 1608 - 1617
Attorney General 1613
Lord Keeper 1617
Lord Chancellor 1618

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sir Francis Bacon

Commemorated ati

Show all 10

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Sir Francis Bacon

Creations i

Montagu Sharpe

This memorial is a sundial in the shape of a armillary sphere - see Wolff for...

Read More

St Stephen's School - Boys entrance

The two S's probably indicate 'St Stephen's'.

Read More

Other Subjects

Karl Marx

Karl Marx

Born Trier, Germany (then Prussia). Died Maitland Park Road, Hampstead.  Lived briefly in Brussels. From the Institute for Fiscal Studies: "Marx lived for a time after arriving in London in 1849 a...

Person, Philosophy, Politics & Administration, Seriously Famous, Germany

6 memorials
Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke

Economist, philosopher, author and statesman. Born in Dublin. MP 1766-94 with the Whig Party.

Person, Philosophy, Politics & Administration, Ireland

3 memorials
Karl Ghattas

Karl Ghattas

Born Khaled Ghattas in Egypt. He trained in several hospitals in London and Chester graduating in medicine London University 1982, but then took an MSc in philosophy at the London School of Economi...

Person, Art, Medicine, Philosophy, Poetry, Egypt, Spain

1 memorial
David Hume

David Hume

Born Berwickshire Scotland. Died Edinburgh.

Person, Philosophy, Scotland

2 memorials
Sir Isaiah Berlin

Sir Isaiah Berlin

Sir Isaiah Berlin OM CBE FBA was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Born in Riga into a wealthy family, which moved with him to London, in 1921. ...

Person, History, Philosophy, Russia

2 memorials

Previously viewed

Charles Hopton

Charles Hopton

Born into a wealthy merchant family and admitted as a child to the Guild of Fishmongers. His will provided for almshouses to be built in the parish of Christchurch, Blackfrars, for poor, single men...

Person, Benefactor, Social Welfare

2 memorials
Gerald Horsley

Gerald Horsley

Architect. Son of John Callcott Horsley. His best known buildings are in a Baroque style. He designed St Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith, and a few stations for the North Western Railway such a...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Captain Alexander Ross Clarke

Captain Alexander Ross Clarke

Surveyor.  Born Reading. Served in Canada and on his return worked on the ordnance survey in Southampton.  Died Reigate.  the picture source has a bio.

Person, Armed Forces, Science

1 memorial
Special Operations Executive (SOE)

Special Operations Executive (SOE)

Spies, basically (but see below), working for the UK in WW2. Formed by Churchill and variously known as "Churchill's Secret Army", "The Baker Street Irregulars", the Pythonesque "Ministry of Ungent...

Group, Armed Forces, Espionage, France, Germany

10 memorials