Life

He was the son of Nicholas Backhouse of Cheapside

Cheapside

Cheapside is a street in the City of London that links Newgate Street with the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Mansion House Street. To the east is Mansion House, the Bank of England, and the major road junction above Bank tube station. To the west is St. Paul's Cathedral, St...

 in Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

 (now Greater London

Greater London

Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...

), an alderman and Sheriff of London, and his wife, Anne, daughter of Thomas Curzon of Croxall

Croxall

Croxall is a parish that was historically in Derbyshire, but is now in Staffordshire, England. Croxall is still very near to the boundary with Staffordshire...

 in Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

.

He purchased the Swallowfield Park

Swallowfield Park

Swallowfield Park is a Grade II* listed stately home and estate in the English county of Berkshire. The house is situated near the village of Swallowfield, some 4 miles south of the town of Reading.-The House :...

 estate in Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

 from John Lytcott, in 1586. Backhouse served as High Sheriff of Berkshire

High Sheriff of Berkshire

The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'....

 in 1598 and 1601. He was Member of Parliament for Windsor

Windsor (UK Parliament constituency)

Windsor is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In its modern form, it elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 in 1603 and 1611.

Family

He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Borlase of Little Marlow

Little Marlow

Little Marlow is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England.It is on the north bank of the River Thames, about a mile east of Marlow. The toponym "Marlow" is derived from the Old English for "land remaining after the draining of a pool"...

 in Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, and they had four sons and four daughters. The eldest, John

John Backhouse

Sir John Backhouse KB was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1625 to 1629. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War....

, a royalist, was made Knight of the Bath by Charles I

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

, married Flower (Flora) Henshawe and died in 1649. The youngest, who inherited from John, was William Backhouse

William Backhouse

William Backhouse was a renowned English Rosicrucian philosopher, alchemist, and astrologer. He was born on 17 January 1593 at Swallowfield Park, some 5 miles south of Reading in the county of Berkshire, a younger son of Samuel Backhouse...

, the renowned Rosicrucian

Rosicrucian

Rosicrucianism is a philosophical secret society, said to have been founded in late medieval Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz. It holds a doctrine or theology "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which, "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe...

 philosopher, alchemist

Alchemy

Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...

, and astrologer

Astrologer

An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an...

.

Backhouse's sister, Mary, married Sir William Borlase MP (c.1562–1629) of Medmenham

Medmenham

Medmenham is a village and civil parish in the Wycombe district of Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the River Thames, about three and a half miles southwest of Marlow and three miles east of Henley-on-Thames....

 in Buckinghamshire, brother of his wife Elizabeth Borlase. His sister, Sarah, married Nicholas Fuller

Nicholas Fuller (lawyer)

Sir Nicholas Fuller was an English barrister and Member of Parliament. After studying at Christ's College, Cambridge, Fuller became a barrister of Gray's Inn...

, the Puritan lawyer and outspoken MP from Crookham

Crookham, Berkshire

Crookham is a village in the English county of Berkshire, and part of the civil parish of Greenham.The settlement lies near to the A339 and A4 roads, and is located approximately south-east of Thatcham...

in Berkshire. Like their father, Samuel's brother, Rowland, was High Sheriff of the City of London.