Oliver St John, 5th Baron St John of Bletso (
bapt.In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted to membership of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered.The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the...
2 April 1603 – 24 October 1642) was an English politician and
Parliamentarian Army"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they were the supporters of Oliver Cromwell against King Charles I. Cromwell rose to prominence as a Member of Parliament and Parliamentary soldier, and eventually...
officer.
St John was baptised at
BletsoeBletsoe is a small village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the A6, and about eight miles north of Bedford. The village has a small park, and a church. Nearby places are Sharnbrook, Milton Ernest, Riseley, Thurleigh, Odell, Souldrop, and Swineshead...
,
BedfordshireBedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region....
and was the eldest son of Oliver St John, 1st Earl of Bolingbroke (c.1584–1646), and his wife, Elizabeth Paulet (died 1655). He was admitted a fellow commoner of
Queens' College, CambridgeQueens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was first founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...
, on 3 November 1615, matriculated there in 1618, and was created MA by royal mandate in 1620. In May 1623, he married Lady Arabella Egerton (died 1669), the eldest daughter of
John Egerton, 1st Earl of BridgewaterJohn Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater KB, PC was an English peer and politician.The son of the 1st Viscount Brackley and Elizabeth Ravenscroft, he was a Member of Parliament for Callington from 1597 to 1598, and for Shropshire in 1601. Knighted on 8 April 1599, he was Baron of the Exchequer of...
. At his father's elevation to the earldom of Bolingbroke in 1624, St John was known by the courtesy title Lord St John, and in the same year was returned to sit as
Member of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
for
BedfordshireBedfordshire was a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency, which elected two Members of Parliament from 1295 until 1885.-History:The constituency consisted of the historic county of Bedfordshire...
. He served in the same capacity in the parliament of 1625 (when among others he sat on committees to discuss the establishment of arithmetic and philosophy schools). He was knighted at the coronation of
Charles ICharles I, , the second son of James VI of Scotland and I of England, was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. Charles famously engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England...
in February 1626. That year, having been returned to
WestminsterWestminster is an area of Central London, within the City of Westminster. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
once again for Bedfordshire, he sat on the
CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
committee for the privileges of the house and the select committee which discussed
Sir Dudley Digges'sSir Dudley Digges , of Chilham Castle, Kent , was a Member of Parliament, elected to the Parliament of 1614 and that of 1621, and also a "Virginia adventurer," an investor who ventured his capital in the Virginia Company of London...
motion for a sea war with
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
. A participant in the debate that identified the duke of Buckingham as the 'cause of causes', he spoke in respect of the service of English ships against the
HuguenotThe Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Since the eighteenth century, Huguenots have been commonly designated "French Protestants", the title being suggested by their German co-religionists or "Calvinists"...
s of
La RochelleLa Rochelle is a city in south-western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department....
, though to what effect it is impossible to determine from records of the debate. He was nominated to committees charged with investigating the inadequacies of food supplied to the Mansfeld mission, and the appointment of county
musterIn Tudor England, musters were periodic assessments of the availability of local militia to act as a defence force when needed. To some extent, the system was an outdated remnant of the feudal system where local lords had their own armies, which they provided for the King as required....
master]]. He also sat on a committee appointed to consider how best to intimate to the king the desires of the house 'for the rectifying and augmenting his revenue'. He entered
Lincoln's InnThe Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn...
on 9 August 1627 at the request of the then reader,
Richard TaylorRichard Taylor may refer to:*Richard Taylor , father of U.S. president Zachary Taylor*Richard Taylor , son of U.S...
, a step which helped confirm his membership of one of the leading political patronage networks of the early Stuart period.
In the parliament of 1628–9, St John was again nominated to the privileges committee of the Commons, but appears to have kept a lower profile than at his previous attendances at Westminster. In 1628, he was, however, one of the many who made a point of visiting
Sir John EliotJohn Eliot may refer to:*Sir John Eliot , English politician*John Eliot , English Puritan minister and missionary*John Eliot, 1st Earl of St Germans , British politician...
during his imprisonment in the
Tower of LondonHer Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London , is a historic fortress and scheduled monument in central London, England, on the north bank of the River Thames...
.
ClarendonEdward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was an English historian and statesman, and grandfather of two British monarchs, Mary II and Queen Anne.-Early life:...
criticised St John's licentious personal habits, which seem to have landed him in some acute financial difficulties, so much so that in December 1638, he attempted unsuccessfully to flee the country in order to evade his creditors. They, led by Sir Matthew Lister,
Sir John DanversSir John Danvers was an English courtier and politician. He was one of the signatories of the death warrant of Charles I.-Life:...
, and others, petitioned the king in October 1639 that he not accede to St John's request for protection of himself and his sureties, that they might be able to recover what they were owed, which amounted to £5900. Presumably, they were somewhat disappointed when the following month St John was summoned by a
writ of accelerationA writ in acceleration, commonly called a writ of acceleration was a type of writ of summons to the House of Lords that enabled the eldest son and heir apparent of a peer with multiple peerage titles to attend the British House of Lords or Irish House of Lords, using one of his father's subsidiary...
under his father's barony to the
House of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". Parliament comprises the Sovereign, the House of Commons , and the Lords...
, making him immune from prosecution. Any hopes that such a summons might secure St John's loyalty were sorely mistaken, and at the outbreak of hostilities in England in 1642, he raised a regiment of horse in which
Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader best known for his involvement in making England into a republican Commonwealth and for his later role as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland.He was one of the commanders of the New Model Army which defeated the royalists in...
's eldest surviving son, Oliver, served as cornet. St John occupied
HerefordHereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
for parliament in October 1642, fortified the city, and refused admittance to the king when he pitched up before its gates on the 8th. Joining up with the rest of the forces under command of the
Earl of EssexRobert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the seventeenth century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, also known as the Roundheads...
, St John then fought at the
Battle of EdgehillThe Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday 23 October, 1642...
on 23 October and sustained wounds from which he died, apparently in captivity, the following day. He left no heir and his widow died at
Welby, LincolnshireWelby is a hamlet just east of Ermine Street, and north-east of Grantham, Lincolnshire in the east of England. The mayor of this hamlet is Natasha Huckaby....
in 1669, and was buried at
Melton MowbrayMelton Mowbray is a town in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It is to the northeast of Leicester, and southeast of Nottingham...
.