Oliver St John, 1st Earl of Bolingbroke
Oliver St John, 1st Earl of Bolingbroke, KB (1580? – June/July 1646), known from 1618 until 1624 as 4th Baron St John of Bletso, was an English nobleman and politician.
Life
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St John was son and heir of Oliver St John, 3rd Baron St John of Bletso, by his wife Dorothy Reid, daughter and heiress of Sir John Rede or Reid, of Oddington, Gloucestershire. He matriculated from Peterhouse, Cambridge, in about 1595 and was admitted at Gray's Inn on 20 April 1597.[1]
St John was elected as a Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire in 1601, and again in 1604.[2] In 1604, he served on the committee appointed to discuss the change in the royal title. On 3 June 1610, he was made Knight of the Bath at the creation of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales.
In September 1618, he succeeded his father; in the following year he sumptuously entertained
In December 1626, St John refused to contribute to the
On 10 November he was one of the commissioners named for the custody of the Great Seal. In 1645 he was excused attendance at the House of Lords, and he died in June or July 1646.
Family
St John married, in April 1602, Elizabeth, daughter of William Paulet and granddaughter of Sir George Paulet, brother of William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester. They had four sons and three daughters:
- Oliver St John, 5th Baron St John of Bletso (1603–1642), married Lady Abrabella Egerton and left four daughters
- Sir Paulet St John, KB (d. 1638), married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Rowland Vaughan (d. 1641) of St. Mary Spital (now Spitalfields), and had three sons:
- Oliver St John, 2nd Earl of Bolingbroke (d. 1688)
- Paulet St John, 3rd Earl of Bolingbroke (1634–1711)
- Francis St John, educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, died unmarried
- Francis St John, died unmarried
- Anthony St John (c.1618–1673), married Ann Keynsham (d. 1700), of Tempsford
- Elizabeth St John, died young
- Dorothy St John (d. 1628), married John Carey, 2nd Earl of Dover, without issue
- Barbara St John, died young
His eldest son Oliver was mortally wounded at the Battle of Edgehill in 1642 and predeceased him, leaving only daughters. When Bolingbroke died in 1646, the earldom passed to his grandson Oliver, the eldest son of Bolingbroke's second son Sir Paulet St John.
His five younger brothers, Rowland, Anthony, Alexander, Beauchamp and Henry all became MPs. [3]
References
- ^ "St John, Oliver (ST595O)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ History of Parliament Online: Oliver St John. Accessed 5 January 2023.
- ^ "ST. JOHN, Oliver I (c.1583-1646), of Bletsoe, Beds. of Abbot's Ripton, Hunts. and St. Bartholomew-the-Great, London". History of Parliament Trust. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
Sources
- Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .