A Dictionary of British and Irish History

B

BABBAGE, CHARLES

see COMPUTING

BACON, ANTHONY

(b. 1718, probably at London, England; d. 21 Jan. 1786 at Cyfarthfa, Glamorgan, Wales, aged 67). The leading industrialist in the development of MERTHYR TYDFIL (S Wales) as the world's greatest iron‐working town; he founded the Cyfarthfa ironworks there in 1765. Bacon made a fortune from supplying munitions to the British government during the AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE (1775–81). See also CRAWSHAY FAMILY; IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRIES, WALES.

BACON, FRANCIS

(b. 22 Jan. 1561 at London, England; d. 9 April 1626 at Highgate, Middlesex, England, aged 65). A royal minister’s son, Bacon became a barrister and (1584) MP. Distrusted by Queen ELIZABETH I and her chief minister Lord Burghley (William CECIL), Bacon joined the supporters of the 2nd earl of ESSEX (1591), but abandoned him before Essex rebelled (1601).

Knighted by JAMES VI/I (1603), Bacon held royal offices from 1607. After the fall of Edward COKE, he was appointed (1618) lord CHANCELLOR (also created Lord Verulam, Viscount St Albans from 1621). But he was impeached by Parliament for accepting bribes, and dismissed by James (1621).

Bacon was also an influential philosopher. His Novum Organum (1620) argued that the material world should be understood through experimental investigation rather than ancient knowledge and logic, an approach fundamental to the SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION.

BADEN‐POWELL, ROBERT

(b. 22 Feb. 1857 at Paddington, Middlesex, England; d. 18 Jan. 1941 at ...