Dr Bacon was, for at least 30 years, the rector of “Balden” (the Baldons). Aside from his rather unusual name, his curriculum vitae makes interesting reading. Alongside his academic and religious work, he was a literary man of some repute in his day.
He was the son of Phanuel Bacon, fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, vicar of St. Lawrence's, Reading (but see below), and author of 'A Pastor's Admonition to his Parishioners'. Phanuel Jnr was born on 13th October, 1700, at Reading. He became a student of Magdalen College, Oxford, being awarded a B.A. in 1719, M.A. in 1722, B.D. (Bachelor of Divinity) in 1731, and D.D. (Doctor of Divinity) in 1735. By 1736 he had become the rector of both Marsh Baldon and Toot Baldon, where he stayed until he died on 10th January 1783, aged 83. His first wife, Margaret (nee Pollard, sister of Elizabeth Lane, Lady of the Manor) died in 1767. She and Phanuel are commemorated, in the chancel of St Peter’s Church, as friends of Sir Christopher Willoughby. His second wife, Catherine (1726 – 1796, daughter of Dr Wrigglesworth Sanderson, Surgeon, Merton College, University of Oxford), outlived him by 13 years.
A map of the Baldons from c.1730 identifies what appears to be Toot Baldon Manor House as the house of Dr Bacon. Given the dates above this would be unlikely to be a reference to Phanuels senior nor junior – however, church records from June 1680/81 identify Phanuel Bacon (presumably senior) as the minister for Toot Baldon. A possible explanation for this is that the biographies which refer to “Reading” are mistaken, and in fact both Phanuels ministered to the Baldons earlier than stated. It is known that Phanuel junior was living in Toot Baldon Manor House for many years from some time after 1730, and Caroline was living in Toot Baldon at the time of her death in 1796.
Phanuel had an interest in good farming and his desire to inclose land embroiled him with the Queen's College and some of the yeomen farmers. Bacon's long correspondence with the college over inclosure, however, shows him to have been a reasonable and moderate man, as well as a learned one with progressive views.
In 1770, Phanuel entered into a legal dispute with a Francis Yateman over the payment of tithes. Yateman claimed that Bacon was not entitled to the tithes (£10 per year plus a sack of malt) that were being paid to him. Bacon lost the case, and subsequently ceased to minister to Toot Baldon, hence the parish had no services for many years and the fabric of the church was neglected.
The extract, below, from The Queen’s College rent book, August 1780, shows that he was paying annual rent of £9 13s 7d for the farm (pro Firmo) which was previously rented by a Mr Potter (olim Potter). The cross on the right-hand side indicates that the rent had been paid.
A point of interest about this record is that that the College leased its agricultural properties on a corn rent basis – this means that two-thirds of the rent was set at the value agreed in the lease, while the remaining third was to be supplied in the form of corn (i.e. wheat and malt) or its cash equivalent. The quantities of wheat and malt were calculated with reference to fixed values which had been set in the Corn Rent Act of 1576, and so remained stable; however, the cash value of these fixed quantities was based upon the prices charged for wheat and malt at the Oxford marketplace on the day the rent was collected, and so the actual rent paid by the tenant fluctuated considerably in accordance with the market value of wheat and malt. In the 2nd column of the rent book ‘Pec’ is for ‘pecia’, or portion – it denotes the cash value of the portion of the rent which is to be paid in corn rent, so £1 2s 2d, in the case of Bacon’s farm; ‘Trit’ is for ‘triticum’, or wheat; ‘Bras’ is for ‘brasium’, or malt. (This information was kindly provided by Dr Amy Ebrey, Assistant Archivist, The Queen's College.)
Phanuel also wrote and published poetry, ballads and plays. According to his contemporaries “he possessed an exquisite fund of humour” and “was a famous punster”. His plays were collected in a volume, dated 1757, entitled 'Humourous Ethics’, including “The Moral Quack” shown here . One of his plays, a comedy called 'The Insignificants', has characters bearing names indicative of their worldly pursuits, who, on account of the triviality of their occupations are buried in the Repository of Insignificants!
It is clear from the wills of Phanuel and Catherine that they were fairly wealthy. Phanuel’s will states that, along with sums to various individuals and organisations, such as “£200 to Christopher Willoughby for the purpose of augmenting the Curacy of Toot Baldon. I earnestly request Mr Willoughby to endeavour to secure the payment of the ancient stipend to that Curacy”, funds for the Parish Clerk of Marsh Baldon as an augmentation of his stipend, funds for the Master of the school at Baldon founded by the late Mrs Elizabeth Lane, to purchase Common Prayer Books for those poor children who by Mrs Lane's will are to be taught gratis. He also left to “my worthy friend Dr John Foulkes my Solar large Concave Speculum” (a concave mirror for focussing the sun’s rays – we don’t know for what purpose this was used by Phanuel). Regarding the majority of his estate – “I have recently agreed with Christopher Willoughby Esq to sell him (after my own and my wife's decease) my three leasehold estates at Baldon called Toot Baldon Farm, Durham Leyes and Daglands, held under three leases from Queens College Oxford, for £2525… After [my wife’s] decease to convey the estates to Christopher Willoughby or his heirs etc in consideration of the £2525 price. (£2,525 in 2025 would be worth approximately £330,000).
Catherine also had her own wealth, as Phanuel stated that “During her life she is keep the leases of all my estates renewed at her own expense”. In 1786, “Madam Bacon”, now a widow, paid substantial land taxes of £6 for Durham Lease and Daglands in Marsh Baldon plus £9 12s for land in Toot Baldon. In her will she left £50 to Sir Christopher Willoughby, Baronet (who was an extremely wealthy man) for his “trouble in the performance of this will” (he was one of her executors), yet only 10 guineas to be shared amongst the poor inhabitants of Marsh Baldon and similar for the poor of Toot Baldon!
Sources for this article: Transcriptions of probate documents by the Oxfordshire Family History Society; Transcripts of churchwardens' presentments in the Oxfordshire peculiars of Dorchester, Thame, and Banbury, The Oxfordshire Record Society, Volume 10, 1928, compiled by Sidney A Peyton; Victoria County History for Oxfordshire; The Dictionary of National Biography; The People of the Baldons, published by The Eureka Partnership.