Charles William George St. John (3 December 1809 – 22 July 1856), English naturalist and sportsman, son of General the Hon. Frederick St John, second son of

Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, 3rd Viscount St John (21 December 1732 – 5 May 1787), was a British Viscount and landowner. His father was John St John, 2nd Viscount St John, half-brother of Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbrok ...

, was born on 3 December 1809 at Chailey, Sussex. St. John was educated at Midhurst,

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, and about 1828 obtained a clerkship in the treasury, but resigned in 1834, in which year in November he married Ann Gibson, the daughter of a rich banker in Newcastle. He and his growing family lived in succession at several rustic residences in the Highlands in Ross-shire, Inverness, Nairn, and Moray and ultimately settled in the Laigh of Moray, within easy distance of mountain sport. In 1853 a paralytic seizure deprived him of the use of his limbs on the left side of his body, and for the benefit of his health he removed to the south of England, although he never recovered the use of his limbs. He died at Woolston, Hampshire, on 22 July 1856, leaving his widow, three sons, and a daughter. His works are ''Short Sketches of the Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands'' (London, 1846, 2nd ed. 1848, 3rd ed. 1861); ''Tour in Sutherland'' (1849, 2nd ed., with recollections by Captain H. St. John, 1884); ''Notes of Natural History and Sport in Morayshire, with Memoir by C. Innes'' (1863, 2nd ed. 1884). They are written in a graphic style, and illustrated with engravings, many of them from clever pen-and-ink sketches of his own. His account of the stalking of the Muckle Hart of Benmore and was influential in the development of Scottish red deer stalking. and has been described as a "classic for all time" among deer-stalkers.Cameron, A.G. (1923
The Wild Red Deer of Scotland
Blackwood: London and Edinburgh

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Works cited

* * *Biography, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:St John, Charles William George 1809 births 1856 deaths English naturalists People from Midhurst