Sir Francis Bacon
Statesman, essayist, philosopher and scientific theorist
1561 - 1625
Lord Chancellor of England
Sir Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount St Albans, Lord Chancellor of England from 1618-20 lived at Twickenham Park between 1580 and 1608 although he did not become the leaseholder until 1595. Until this year the lease appears to have been held by his half-brother Edward Bacon.
Writing in 1594 he noted that:
"One day draweth on another, and I am well pleased in my being here, for methinks solitariness collecteth the mind as shutting the eyes doth the sight."
Love's Labours Lost?
It has been suggested that, rather than Shakespeare, Bacon was the author of Love's Labours Lost in particular and that it was written at Twickenham Park.
Twitnam Parke...convenient for the trial of philosophical conclusions
Financial pressures obliged him to sell, in 1608, something which he regretted. While Lord Chancellor in 1618 he endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to buy the place back:
"Let Twitnam Parke, which I sold in my younger years, be purchased, if possible, for a residence for such deserving persons to study in, since I experimentally found the situation of that place much convenient for the trial of philosophical conclusions."
Further reading:
Alan C B Urwin, Twicknam Parke, Alan Urwin, 1965
Dick Cashmore & others, Grounds for Celebration, The St Margaret's Pleasure Grounds 1854-2000, 2000
