[5] Bacon was appointed Hampshire's first paid secretary in 1903,[6] at which point he reverted from being a professional cricketer to an amateur.

[7] At the start of the First World War, he suggested forming a corps made of professional cricketers, whom he considered epitomised the values of courage and honour.

[1] While serving on board Royal Yacht Squadron steam yacht HMS Aries on an auxiliary patrol near the South Goodwin Lightship on 31 October 1915, Aries struck a mine laid by the German submarine UC-6 while attempting to assist another ship.

[1] The mine broke Aries in two, resulting in it sinking within one minute with the loss of 22 souls, including Bacon.

His body drifted subsequently across the North Sea and eventually washed up on the Danish coast, with him being buried in the churchyard at Börsmose.