Name Sir Bacon, | Education Eton College | |
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Parents Sir Edmund Bacon, 13th Baronet | ||
Sir Nicholas Hickman Ponsonby Bacon, 14th and 15th Baronet, OBE, DL (born 17 May 1953) is a British landowner, businessman and philanthropist. Sir Nicholas is also the Premier Baronet of England.
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Life and education
Sir Nicholas is the son of Sir Edmund Bacon, 13th and 14th Baronet, and Priscilla Dora Ponsonby, daughter of Colonel Sir Charles Ponsonby, 1st Baronet. He was educated at Eton College and Dundee University where he was awarded a MA degree. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn. Between 1966 and 1969 he served as Page of Honour to Queen Elizabeth II.
Family
In 1981, Sir Nicholas married Susan Henrietta Dinnis, and they have four sons:
Sir Nicholas inherited significant landholdings in Norfolk.
He lives at the 18th century Raveningham Hall. He and his wife, Lady Bacon, share an interest in continuing the restoration of the extensive gardens, which were renovated by his late mother, Priscilla.
Appointments
Sir Nicholas is President of the Royal Horticultural Society (elected in 2013), a council member of the National Trust and in 1998 was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk.
In 2005 he was appointed to the Prince's Council of the Duchy of Cornwall and served as High Sheriff of Norfolk. In 2006 he succeeded William Peel, 3rd Earl Peel, as Lord Warden of the Stannaries and Chairman of the Prince's Council.
He is also President of the Norfolk Beekeepers Association.
Sir Nicholas was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to the community in Norfolk.
Baronetcy
Sir Nicholas inherited the Bacon Baronetcy after the death of his father in 1982.
As the Bacon Baronetcy, of Redgrave in the County of Suffolk, is the oldest extant English baronetcy (created in the Baronetage of England on 22 May 1611), Sir Nicholas is considered the Premier Baronet of England.
Sir Nicholas is both the 14th and 15th Baronet of Bacon since the 8th Bacon Baronet of Mildenhall in the County of Suffolk (created in the Baronetage of England on 29 July 1627), had been additionally appointed the 7th Bacon Baronet of Redgrave in 1755 when his third cousin, the 6th Bacon Baronet of Redgrave, died without heirs.