Jessie Lightfoot Jessie Lightfoot was 39 when Francis Bacon was born. She was the nanny in the Bacon household. When Francis settled in London as a young artist, she moved in with him. Bacon's biographer confirms that she had no hesitation in shoplifting whenever times were hard. Bacon also sought her advice on the selection of the most attractive responses to personal ads in which he offered his services as a 'gentleman's companion'. She even accompanied the artist on his jaunts to Monaco. They stayed together right through to her death in 1951.