Thomas Bacon | |
---|---|
Died | 1 January 1559 |
Resting place | Chelsfield |
Alma mater | Gonville Hall, Cambridge |
Thomas Bacon (died 1 January 1559) was the fifteenth master of Gonville Hall, Cambridge (later Gonville and Caius College) from 1552.[1][2]
Bacon was educated at Gonville Hall, graduating B.A. 1517–8, M.A. 1521, D.D. 1556–7. He held a scholarship from Michaelmas 1517 to 1519, and a fellowship from 1519 to 1527. In 1521 he was Principal of Physwick Hostel, a university hall annexed to Gonville Hall.[3]
He served as a chaplain to King Henry VIII, and held the following church livings:
Bacon was appointed Master of Gonville Hall in 1552. On Queen Mary's Visitation to Cambridge in 1557, the bodies of two deceased reformers were exhumed and burned; according to Venn, the arrangements for this were made at Bacon's lodge at Gonville Hall.[3]
When in 1557 John Caius refounded Gonville Hall as Gonville and Caius College, Caius' statutes appointed Bacon Master of the new foundation. Caius' character assessment of Bacon was not positive: homo certe gravis, mitis, et amabilis, sed custos inutilis et negligens (certainly a serious, gentle, and amicable man, but a useless and negligent custodian). Bacon died at Chelsfield on 1 January 1559 and was buried there on 3 January; he was succeeded as Master by John Caius.