Hunt For Shakespeare's Lost Manuscripts at Chepstow, 1911 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, March 19, 2013, 04:04 (4286 days ago) @ Jefff

Further and rather more thorough internet research has provided various references from which I've compiled the likely basis for the above legend:

Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Although his political career ended in disgrace, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution. During the Restoration, Bacon was commonly invoked as a guiding spirit of the Royal Society founded under Charles II in 1660. He has been reputed as the "Father of Experimental Science" and the philosophical influence behind the dawning of the Industrial Age.
Bacon was the first alternative candidate proposed as the "true author" of William Shakespeare's plays and was the leading candidate in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the so-called "Baconian theory" which was particularly supported in the USA including by author Mark Twain.

Bacon also held a fascination with mysterious codes and ciphers, in 1605 he devised the "Baconian Cipher", a method of hiding a secret message within the presentation of text.

American physician Dr Orville Ward Owen (1854–1924) supported the Baconian theory of Shakespearean authorship and furthermore claimed to have discovered hidden messages within the works of Shakespeare/Bacon using his invention the "cipher wheel". These alleged discoveries were published in his multi-volume work "Sir Francis Bacon's Cipher Story"(1893-5). This was a "secret history of the Elizabethan period" communicated by Bacon through encoded passages in his own works and the many others he had supposedly written albeit attributed to the likes of Shakespeare and Marlowe. The basis was that Queen Elizabeth I was secretly married to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and Bacon was their son, but when she confessed this on her deathbed she was poisoned and strangled to prevent her proclaiming Bacon her successor. Owen also claimed to have uncovered two new plays by Bacon.....and that the works of many other authors were all actually Bacon. Perhaps not surprisingly even Owen's close friend Dr Frederick Mann published a severe & credible critique of the claims.

However Owen was convinced of his theory & particularly one Baconian cipher that stated Bacon had intended to conceal his original manuscripts "below the Wye" at Chepstow Castle. Bacon had certainly been a local landowner including the wireworks at nearby Tintern, so...?. In 1909-10 Owen made several expeditions to attempt to recover the manuscripts and dredged a section of the Wye in 1911. Some reports say he discovered a mysterious underground chamber beneath the river bed and, although it was disappointingly empty, further Baconian ciphers were to be found carved on the walls. However it is now believed nothing was found.
Owen died a "bedridden almost penniless invalid", full of regret for sacrificing his career, reputation and health on the "Baconian controversy" and warning admirers to learn by his example and avoid it !.

This detailed newspaper report of his search from "The New York Times" of May 1911 makes interesting reading. It states that Dr Owen stayed in Chepstow with his wife and four children.
http://www.oakislandtreasure.co.uk/imagesforforum/bacon_wye.pdf

Fortunately the timing of his researches show, from LDS:

Orville Ward Owen, "England and Wales Census, 1911"
Name: Orville Ward Owen
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1911
Gender: Female
Age: 57
Birthplace: District Michigan United States Of America
Schedule Type: Household
Registration District: Chepstow
Sub-District: Chepstow
Parish: Chepstow
County: Monmouthshire

Name: Mable Van Camp Owen
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1911
Gender: Female
Age: 40
Birthplace: District Michigan United States Of America
Schedule Type: Household
Registration District: Chepstow
Sub-District: Chepstow
Parish: Chepstow
County: Monmouthshire

Name: Gwendoline Van Camp Owen
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1911
Gender: Female
Age: 14
Birthplace: Detriot Michigan U S A
Schedule Type: Household
Registration District: Newport
Sub-District: Newport
Parish: St Woollos
County: Monmouthshire

Name: Mabel Orvilla Owen
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1911
Gender: Female
Age: 10
Birthplace: Detriot Michigan U S A
Schedule Type: Household
Registration District: Newport
Sub-District: Newport
Parish: St Woollos
County: Monmouthshire