Edmund Lacon


Sir Edmund Henry Knowles Lacon, 3rd Baronet was an English businessman and liberal Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1852 and 1885.

Early life

Lacon was the son of Sir Edmund Knowles Lacon, 2nd Baronet, and his wife Eliza Beecroft, daughter of Thomas Beecroft of Saxthorpe Hall. He was educated at Eton College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. In 1839 he inherited the baronetcy on the death of his father.

Business career

Lacon became a brewer and banker at Great Yarmouth. He was one of the original shareholders in the Yarmouth & Norwich Railway in 1842 which was Norfolk's first railway. He was later a director of the Yarmouth & Haddiscoe Railway and the East Suffolk Railway. He was also Chairman of the Great Yarmouth & Stalham Light Railway which later became part of the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway.

Military career

He was appointed Lieutenant Colonel commanding the East Norfolk Militia on 16 March 1860 and of the 1st Norfolk Administrative Battalion of Artillery Volunteers on 2 December 1864. He later became Honorary Colonel of both units' successors, the 4th Battalion, Norfolk Regiment and the 1st Norfolk Artillery Volunteers.

Political career

Lacon was elected as a Member of Parliament for Great Yarmouth at the 1852 general election and held the seat until his defeat in 1857. He regained the seat in 1859 and held it until the seat was disenfranchised for corruption at the 1868 general election. At the 1868 general election he was elected instead as MP for North Norfolk. He held that seat until the 1885 general election, when he did not stand again.

Public life

He was a Deputy Lieutenant and JP for Norfolk, a JP for Suffolk and High Steward of Yarmouth.

Family life

On 23 March 1839 Lacon married Eliza Georgiana Hammet, daughter of James Esdaile Hammet of Battersea, and they had six children:
Lacon died at the age of 81.