Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, was an English philosopher and statesman whose works are credited with developing the scientific method.

Bacon has been called the father of empiricism. His works argued that scientific knowledge could be gained purely from inductive reasoning and astute observation of nature. Most importantly, he argued science should operate using a skeptical and methodical approach to help scientists avoid self-deception. Although his specific recommendations concerning this method have fallen by the wayside, his overall idea of the need for a skeptical methodology revolutionized science.

In 1581, Bacon was elected to Parliament, where he served for the next three decades as a reformer who spoke against religious persecution. Bacon was the first recipient of the Queen’s counsel designation which he received in 1597 from Elizabeth I. He also served as Attorney General of England and Wales from 1613 to 1617, and as Lord High Chancellor of England from 1617 to 1621.

His political career ended in scandal when he was charged with as many as 23 counts of corruption. Although he acknowledged accepting various gifts, these were common customs in the politics of that era, and scholars believe that the accusations were politically motivated. Even after his fall from grace, however, his philosophical and scientific writing has had a lasting and enormous influence.

Although Bacon was married to a woman, Alice Barnham, there were accounts from contemporaries of him having male lovers. This marriage did not come about until Bacon was forty-eight years old, and according to the Puritan Sir Simonds D’Ewes, who served with Bacon in the British Parliament, noted that Bacon was deeply attracted to his Welsh serving man named Godrick, who was a “very effeminate-faced youth” and his “bed-fellow”.

He also claimed that Bacon at times ‘desert[ed] the bed of his lady’ in favor of his Welsh serving men, whom Bacon preferred. Further circumstantial evidence of Bacon’s same-sex attraction and preference for Welsh serving men has been found in his will. For example, he left 200 pounds to Francis Edney and ensured that his young manservant Tobie Matthew was granted knighthood, even after Bacon’s death. Despite this, Bacon remained married to his wife until his death in 1626.

It’s difficult to say whether or not his marriage was based purely on love — there was talk of friction between Bacon and his wife, mostly related to the debt the family incurred — and the couple never produced any children. Nevertheless, it is clear from the record that Sir Francis Bacon’s attraction to men was by no means exclusive. He once wrote that “the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express; no nor the first sight of the life”; it is difficult to say whether he was speaking of men or women when he wrote this, but it is clear that he meant for it to apply to anyone. This strongly suggests an ability to see the beauty in all people, regardless of sex.