Illustration by P Page (after the stained glass window in Norwich Anglican Cathedral)

Arms: Gules on a Chief Argent two Mullets pierced Sable.

Crest: A Boar passant Ermine.

Supporters: On the dexter side a representation of a Standard-bearer of the XIVth legion of the army of ancient Rome habited and holding in the dexter hand a spear proper bearing the vexillum of the legion charged with the device Azure an Heraldic Sea-goat contournee fringed on the lower edge Or.  On the sinister side a bearer of the XXth legion habited and holding in the sinister hand a spear proper bearing the vexillum of the legion charged with the device Azure a Boar courant proper.

Motto: Mediocria Firma (Moderation is stable).

The family trace their roots back to the Grimbalds who came with Earl Warenne to East Anglia. They settled first at Letheringset, but (after many other residencies) the family moved recently to Raveningham.  In 1510, Sir Nicholas Bacon was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to Queen Elizabeth, and his fifth son, Sir Francis, followed him in that office, becoming Lord Verulam.  His first son, also Sir Nicholas, was the first person to be made baronet, on 22 May 1611, hence the title of "Premier Baronet of England".

His son Edmund became the second baronet on his father's death in 1624.  Confusingly, this Sir Nicholas's second son, Butts (his mother was Anne Butts of Thornage), of Mildenhall, was also made a baronet in 1627; the two creations were combined later when the first line died out in 1755.  Because of different ages at death, the first baronetcy had fewer holders than the second until Richard Bacon, descendant of Sir Butts, became 7th Baronet of Redgrave and 8th Baronet of Mildenhall.

Even more confusingly, Sir Nicholas's grandson,  also Nicholas, by his fourth son was also made a Baronet, of Gillingham; but when his grandson married one of Sir Butts grand-daughters these two baronetcies were combined as the 3rd of Mildenhall.

Sir Edmund Bacon, K.G., was the 13th Baronet of Redgrave and 14th of Mildenhall.  He commanded the 55th (Suffolk Yeomanry) Anti-Tank Regiment R.A., fighting in North-West Europe in the Second World War and winning a Military OBE in 1945 (he already had a civil OBE), and receiving the Territorial Decoration (TD). He became a director of Lloyds Bank, and was also Chairman of the British Sugar Corporation.

He devoted much of his life to county affairs, serving on and chairing the Norfolk County Council with great honour for many years.  He was High Steward of Norwich Cathedral, and served also as a Church Commissioner from 1955.