James Wilde, 1st Baron Penzance
James Plaisted Wilde, Baron Penzance (July 12, 1816 - December 9, 1899) was a British judge and amateur gardener who was a vociferous proponent of the theory that the works usually attributed to William Shakespeare were in fact authored by Francis Bacon.
The son of a lawyer, he was the nephew of Lord Chancellor Thomas Wilde, 1st Baron Truro. He became a successful lawyer himself and received a knighthood in 1860. In the same year he married Lady Mary Bouverie (1825-1900), daughter of William Pleydell-Bouverie, 3rd Earl of Radnor. The couple resided at Eashing Park, Godalming.
He presided over the Court of Probate and Divorce from 1863 until his retirement in 1872, being created a peer in 1869. However, in 1875 he accepted the post as Dean of Arches and presided over a number of notorious trials under the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874.
At his garden in Godalming, from rosa eglanteria and rosa foetida he produced two new roses named Lady and Lord Penzance. He went on to produce a further 14 roses named for characters in the novels of Sir Walter Scott.
He argued that the works of Shakespeare are invariably accurate in matters of law and must, therefore, be the work of a scholar such as Bacon.
Bibliography
- Wilde, J.P. (1902) Lord Penzance on the Bacon-Shakespeare Controversy - A Judicial Summing-Up
- Wilde, J.P. (ed.) M.H. Kinnear (1992) Lord Penzance's Trial of Shakespeare: Verdict for Bacon ISBN 185571308X
External links
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