Barrister's Bacon-Shakespeare Book Makes Comeback
Washingtoner/10260457

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Washingtoner -- By Christina G. Waldman, Member of The Francis Bacon Society

There's new wind in the sails for the "small but mighty" Francis Bacon Society as it relaunches British barrister N. B. Cockburn's monumental 1998 study, The Bacon Shakespeare Question: The Baconian Theory Made Sane (1998) with its 2024 Francis Bacon Edition. Based on decades of original research at the British Library, the former Inner Temple barrister's book presents a fair-but-formidable, fact-based case for Francis Bacon's authorship of Shakespeare.

As Sally Gibbins, Principal of the Society, says: "It has been 26 years since the late Nigel B. Cockburn [1930-2007], a British barrister of the Inner Temple and a long-term member of The Francis Bacon Society, first published his monumental 740-page work. Since that time, it may have seemed like Baconianism was a spent force, especially with the arrival of many other candidates with little if any supporting evidence for their claims. However, The Francis Bacon Society, founded in 1886, has seen a revival of interest in Francis Bacon generally and the authorship question specifically, with writers and scholars presenting new research and the reprinting of this important 1998 work."

More on Washingtoner

• Tacoma: District 5 Council Member Joe Bushnell to Serve as Deputy Mayor in 2026
• City of Tacoma Secures Over $4 Million in Transportation Improvement Board Grants
• Sandesh Sadalge Sworn in as District 4 Tacoma City Council Member for First Full Term
• Tacoma: District 2 Council Member Sarah Rumbaugh Begins Second Term
• Latasha Palmer Begins Serving as Tacoma City Council Member, At-Large Position 6

She continues, "Many of the early pioneering Baconians were solicitors and barristers including Wilfred Gundry of the Middle Temple and Sir Edwin Durning Lawrence of the Inner Temple," Gibbons continues. "These and many others from a legal background— including Alfred Dodd, Parker Woodward and E. D. Johnson—were prolific writers and advocates for Francis Bacon and his connection to the Shakespeare plays. As lawyers, they could see very clearly the vast amount of law and legal phrases within the plays." Bacon was a famous member of Gray's Inn.

In the book's introduction, Cockburn states his goals were to "to get at the points that matter both for and against the Baconian hypothesis and to state them fairly and accurately" and "to cover, as far as possible, the whole field of the Bacon-Shake-Speare controversy." In addition, he hoped to introduce readers unfamiliar with Bacon to "one of the most remarkable and fascinating intellects in our history."

More on Washingtoner

• Mayor Anders Ibsen Sworn in During First Tacoma City Council Meeting of 2026
• Yunishigawa Onsen's Annual "Kamakura Festival" will be held January 30 – March 1, 2026
• At Your Service Plumbing Named a 2025 Nextdoor Neighborhood Fave
• TBM Council Appoints Four Distinguished Leaders to Board of Directors
• Spokane: 2026 Point-In-Time Count Set for Mid-January, Volunteers Needed

The Francis Bacon Edition features a biography of the author written by the Society and a foreword by Christina G. Waldman, lawyer and Baconian author. It may be ordered exclusively from the Francis Bacon Society's new online bookstore, https://francisbaconsociety.co.uk/bookstore/. US orders will be dispatched directly from the US. The Francis Bacon Society, which holds the rights to the book, is a small, discrete charitable trust organized for educational purposes. As Bacon might say: Plus Ultra!

The Francis Bacon Society
2d Floor
168 Shoreditch High Street
London
E1 6RA
francis.bacon.society@gmail.com
https://francisbaconsociety.co.uk/bookstore/