Sir Nicholas had graduated from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and entered Gray’s Inn (one of the Inns of Court); he was called to the Bar in 1533. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, Sir Nicholas acquired several estates, including Gorhambury near St Albans, which became the family seat. He held several posts under Edward VI, as Member of Parliament, Attorney of the Court of Wards and Liveries, and Treasurer of Gray’s Inn. He was a highly skilled lawyer and a brilliant speaker. During the reign of Mary I, he lost his posts as he was a staunch Protestant, only to resume his career on the succession of Elizabeth I. The Queen immediately appointed him Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, a post in which he worked closely with his brother-in-law, William Cecil (they had married two of the learned and intelligent daughters of Sir Anthony Cooke). Francis was the youngest of all of Nicholas Bacon’s children. The date of Francis’s conception tallies with the period during which Elizabeth and Robert Dudley were most rumoured to have engaged in a physical relationship – in anticipation of the imminent death of Robert’s wife, Amy Robsart.
