page_title: Henry Gosnold
section_title: Early career
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Gosnold / Early career
caption_attribution_description: English: A painting of Francis Bacon, when he was only 18 years old.Português: Uma pintura de Francis Bacon, quando ele tinha apenas 18 anos de idade.Русский: Портрет 18-летнего Фрэнсиса Бэкона.
context_page_description: Henry Gosnold, or Gosnell was an English-born lawyer who spent most of his very long life in Ireland. He sat in the Irish House of Commons and held office as Chief Justice of Munster and Deputy Admiralty judge. He is now mainly remembered for his friendship with Francis Bacon. He was also famous in his own lifetime for his wit: a few of his jokes still survive.
context_section_description: He was the son of John Gosnold, a member of the well-known  Gosnold family of Otley, Suffolk and his wife Katherine Kinellmarsh; the explorer Bartholomew Gosnold was his cousin.  The family name is also spelt Gosnell, Gosling  or Gosnard.  The year of his birth is uncertain, but was probably  shortly after 1560,  as we know from his own testimony that he was over 80 in 1646. Henry went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1577, and Staple Inn; he entered Gray's Inn in 1581. As a student he had a reputation for wit, and it may have been this which earned him the friendship of Francis Bacon, who is said  have been a distant relative. The  closeness  between the two men continued after their student days;  in July 1592 they visited  Twickenham together,  and   the friendship survived  Henry's departure to Ireland in 1594.
  At least one of his jokes  (a  rather laboured one for modern  tastes)  survives, concerning Bacon's determined  but  ultimately  unsuccessful battle to persuade Elizabeth I to appoint him, rather than Sir Edward Coke, as  Attorney General. Gosnold quipped: "if it please her Majesty, the Bacon may be too hard for the Cook (Coke)"."
caption: Francis Bacon aged 18, around the time his friendship with Gosnold began.
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