English, 1855 - 1945
Sir Hickman Bacon lived at Thonock in Lincolnshire. Having served in the Grenadier Guards he also spent an active life in public service. In 1887 he became High Sheriff of Lincolnshire and served as Chairman of Lindsey County Council from 1914 until 1924.
He was broadminded in his politics, being friendly with many prominent Liberals and Conservatives such as Winston Churchill, and also with socialists such as Beatrice and Sidney Webb. As a strong supporter of his local Co-operative Society and of the Working Men’s Institute, organisations attempting to improve the lot of working people, he was in every sense the well-groomed philanthropist.
John Sell Cotman, 'A Figure in a Boat on a River,' 1830s, © private collectionHe was also a keen sportsman, being a supporter of Lincolnshire football, cricket and golf clubs, and a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Later a knowledgeable enthusiast of the motorcar, he was elected a member of the Society of Automobile Engineers.
Sir Hickman Bacon collected fabrics, wall-hangings, ceramics and Japanese prints, being elected to the Society of Antiquaries at the age of twenty three. His passion for watercolours remains his most clear achievement as a collector.
David Cox, 'Pembroke Castle,' c1810, © private collectionThe collection was begun only about 1895, being substantially complete by 1914 and was calculated to complement his inherited collection of paintings by European artists. The art historian Margaret Pilkington described him in 1937 as ‘a beautiful old man, very distinguished-looking, with a white beard and a thin refined face – rather austere but full of life and character’.
Despite an affair with an Austrian countess, he remained a bachelor and on his death the collection (and his two baronetcies of Redgrave and Mildenhall), passed to his nephew, Sir Edmund Castell Bacon (1903 - 1982).
source: Norwick Castle Museum and Art Gallery
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