BACON, Sir Edmund, 6th Bt. (c.1680-1755), of Garboldisham, Norf.

Descended from the eldest son of Lord Keeper Bacon, Sir Edmund Bacon was the premier baronet of England. The family had been seated at Redgrave till 1702, when his father sold the estate to Chief Justice Holt, moving to Garboldisham. After representing the county as a Tory in Anne’s last two Parliaments, he did not stand again till he was returned unopposed at a by-election in 1728, when he was ‘called a Whig for assisting Mr. Holt [the Whig candidate] in Suffolk in 1727 against his father [-in-law], Sir R. Kemp’s interest’,1Account of Norfolk elections 1713-68, in Norwich City Central Lib. N.R.S. 13688, 28D4. though in 1721 his name had been sent to the Pretender as a probable supporter in the event of a rising.2Stuart mss 65/10. In Parliament he voted against the Government in every recorded division. He was one of the Tories who withdrew on the motion against Walpole in February 1741. At the next general election he stood down to permit a compromise. He died 30 Apr. 1755.