Henry St. John, 1st Viscount St. John (baptized 17 October 1652 – died 8 April 1742), of Lydiard Tregoze,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

; Battersea,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

; and Berkeley Street,

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, was an English politician. In 1685 he was pardoned for a

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

Early life and education

St John was born in 1652, first son of Sir Walter St John, 3rd Baronet and his wife

Johanna Johanna is a feminine name, a variant form of Joanna that originated in Latin in the Middle Ages, including an -h- by analogy with the Latin masculine name Johannes. The original Greek form ''Iōanna'' lacks a medial /h/ because in Greek Spiritus ...

. He was educated at

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and at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

where he attended Caius College in 1668-69 and graduated M.A. at St John's College in 1669. He was awarded a later degree as D.C.L. at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1702.

Political career

He was a

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

(MP) of the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the Great Council of England, great council of Lords Spi ...

for Wootton Bassett October 1679–March 1681, 1685–87, 1689–95 and 1698–1700 and for

1695–98. He also served as a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) from 1683 and Justice of the Peace (JP) from 1685 for the county of Wiltshire

Murder case

In November 1684 he was the principal figure in a singularly disgraceful brawl, which followed the acquittal of Edward Nosworthy. The trial's jury repaired to the Globe tavern in

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

to celebrate. While there, an altercation broke out between St John and Francis Stonehouse, the argument reportedly "a discourse about leaping horses" which terminated in the death of the jury foreman, Sir William Estcourt. St. John and Edmund Webb, who had both run Estcourt through with their swords,
History of Parliament article on Estcourt. were found guilty of murder, and condemned to death. St. John's mother obtained a pardon for him at the reported price of £16,000. St. John was expected to go abroad for some time, but publicly entered the next parliamentary election at Wootton Bassett a few weeks after the close of his case, and was duly elected to James II of Great Britain, James II’s first Parliament.
History of Parliament Online article on St John(Volume for 1660-1690).

Family, peerage and death

St John was twice married: *1st, on 11 December 1673, Lady Mary Rich (died 30 September 1678), daughter and coheir of

Robert Rich, 3rd Earl of Warwick The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

, by whom he had one son, Henry, later made Viscount Bolingbroke in 1712. *2nd, on 1 January 1687, Angelica Magdalena (died 5 August 1736), daughter of Claude Pellissary, treasurer-general of the galleys to

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, and widow of Philip Wharton of Edlington, Yorkshire, by whom he had three sons (two of whom died in their father's lifetime) and one daughter, Henrietta Knight, Lady Luxborough. The surviving son was John St John, 2nd Viscount St John, father of Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, 3rd Viscount St John. St John succeeded his father as 4th Baronet on the latter's death in 1708, then on 2 July 1716 he was created a peer as 1st Viscount St John, elevating him to the House of Lords. Viscount St John died 8 April 1742, aged 89, and was buried at St Mary's Church, Battersea.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John, Henry 1652 births 1742 deaths Viscounts in the Peerage of Great Britain Peers of Great Britain created by George I Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Wiltshire People from Battersea People from Westminster Henry Deputy lieutenants of Wiltshire English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1685–1687 English MPs 1689–1690 English MPs 1690–1695 English MPs 1695–1698 English MPs 1698–1700 Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge People educated at Eton College