Lady Anne Bacon at Suffolk Archives

Lady Anne Bacon (1528-1610) was one of five scholarly sisters, a woman of incisive intelligence, courage and tenacity, renowned for her learning. She was present and influential at key moments, including the accession crisis of 1553 after the death of Edward VI when, although an ardent Protestant, Anne joined the inner circle of attendants to the Catholic princess Mary after her flight to East Anglia. Supporting her at Kenninghall, Framlingham and Ipswich, Anne played a dramatic and crucial part in events as Mary resisted the imposition of Lady Jane Grey as queen.

Marrying lawyer Nicholas Bacon, who rose from humble beginnings as the son of a Suffolk sheep-reeve, made her mistress of Redgrave Hall near Diss. Her sons Anthony and Francis became respectively spy and statesman. As a widow she ran a great estate alone for thirty years. Deborah Spring studied social anthropology at Cambridge, gained an MA in garden history at Birkbeck, and an MA in biography at UEA.

Join Deborah Spring in a fascinating talk followed by a Q&A and a special book signing.