Henry St John 1652-1742

Henry ST JOHN, 1st Viscount St John 1652-1742

Biographical Note

Son of Sir Walter St John, 3rd bart, of Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire and Battersea, landowner and MP, from whom he succeeded in the baronetcy and family estates in 1708. MA St John's College, Cambridge 1669, DCL (Oxford) 1702. MP for Wootton Basset, or Wiltshire, 1679-1700; in 1683 he was convicted of murder after a drunked brawl, and would have been executed had a pardon not been purchased. After 1700 he stood down from Parliament in favour of his eldest son, Henry, whose own political career became more noteworthy but also controversial. He was created Viscount St John in 1716.

Books

St John used an engraved armorial bookplate (Franks 25962). The extent of his library is not known; in his will, he left all his "household goods books and furniture" in his house at Battersea to his eldest son Henry, while his younger son John, who inherited the Viscountcy, inherited the estate at Lydiard Tregoze.

Sources

• Will of Henry St John, The National Archives PROB 11/718/186.
• History of Parliament.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.