Viscount Bolingbroke

Viscount BolingbrokeTemplate:Efn is a current title in the Peerage of Great Britain created in 1712 for Henry St John. He was simultaneously made Baron St John, of Lydiard Tregoze in the County of Wilts. Since 1751, the titles are merged with the titles of Viscount St John and Baron St John in the same peerage.

Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke

Family background

John St John (1585–1648) was the nephew of Oliver St John, 1st Viscount Grandison (1559–1630), lord deputy governor of Ireland from 1616 to 1622, and distant cousin of the Barons St John of Bletsoe, later Earls of Bolingbroke.

Grants of titles

Baronetcy in 1611

John St John later represented Wiltshire in Parliament and was a strong royalist during the Civil War. On 22 May 1611, he was created a Baronet, of Lydiard Tregoze in Wiltshire, in the Baronetage of England.<ref>George Edward Cokayne Complete Baronetage 1900</ref>

Baronies and viscountcies

The titles Baron St John, of Lydiard Tregoze in the County of Wilts, and Viscount Bolingbroke were created in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1712 for the politician and orator the Hon. Henry St John, the eldest son of Henry St John, 4th Baronet. The peerages were created with remainder to his father and his male heirs. Lord Bolingbroke died childless and was succeeded according to the special remainder by his nephew, who had already succeeded as third Viscount St John in 1749 (see below).

Henry St John, 4th Baronet was elected MP for Wiltshire and Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire. In 1716 he was created Baron St John, of Battersea<ref name=bh/> in the County of Surrey, and Viscount St John, with remainder to his second son (who inherited) and in default third son, as his eldest son Henry St John had already been created Viscount Bolingbroke in 1712 (see above). The 2nd Viscount St John also represented Wootton Bassett in Parliament. In 1751 his son, the 3rd Viscount, succeeded his uncle as 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke and 2nd Baron St John according to a special remainder in the letters patent.

The titles have remained united since. The 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke was elected briefly for Cricklade, Wiltshire. Template:As of the titles are held by his descendant, the 8th Viscount Bolingbroke and 9th Viscount St John. He lives in New Zealand. As of 24 October 2025, he has not successfully proven his succession and is therefore not on the Official Roll of the Baronetage, with the baronetcy considered dormant since 1974.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Family seats and abodes

Template:Annotated image An established family seat was, from 1420 until sale in 1943, Lydiard House, Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire.

From 1648 until 1765 the family had a house near to London, namely the forerunner to the wider Battersea Park area, Bolingbroke House, which was then in the county of Surrey.<ref name=bh>A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4 at para 8 of Battersea with Penge pp. 8–17; editor H. E. Malden (London, 1912), British History Online. Accessed 27 September 2017.</ref> This became the de facto seat of the lord of the manor title inherited from the 1st Baronet from Viscount Grandison, buried there with great pomp in 1648.<ref name=bh/> In 1742 the then Lord Bolingbroke, who, in spite of his attainder, had been enabled to inherit the estate by an act of Parliament, the Henry St John Bolingbroke Restitution Act 1724 (11 Geo. 1. c. 40), lent the manor house to his friend Hugh Hume, 3rd Earl of Marchmont.<ref name=bh/> Later he settled there himself, either in 1743 or early in the following year and there spent the remainder of his life.<ref name=bh/> He was buried in the family vault in Battersea Church in 1751. His nephew and heir Frederick, second Viscount Bolingbroke, sold the Battersea estate about 1763. It was purchased by John Viscount Spencer, created Earl Spencer in 1765.<ref name=bh/> Template:Clear

Coat of arms

File:Viscount Bolingbroke coa.svg

Armorial bearings of St John, Viscounts Bolingbroke

The heraldic blazon for the armorials of the St John family is: Argent, on a chief gules two mullets or. This can be translated as: a white shield with a red rectangle at the top holding two golden stars.

St John Baronets, of Lydiard Tregoze (1611)

• Sir John St John, 1st Baronet (Template:Died in)
• Sir John St John, 2nd Baronet (1638–1657)<ref>Wiltshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812</ref>Template:Full citation needed
• Sir Walter St John, 3rd Baronet (1622–1708)
• Sir Henry St John, 4th Baronet (1652–1742) (created Viscount St John and Baron St John of Battersea in 1716)

see below for further succession

Viscounts Bolingbroke and Barons St John of Lydiard Tregoze (1712)

• Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751)
• Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke and 3rd Viscount St John (1732–1787)
• George St John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke and 4th Viscount St John (1761–1824)
• Henry St John, 4th Viscount Bolingbroke and 5th Viscount St John (1786–1851)
• Henry St John, 5th Viscount Bolingbroke and 6th Viscount St John (1820–1899)
• Vernon Henry St John, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke and 7th Viscount St John (1896–1974)
• Kenneth Oliver Musgrave St John, 7th Viscount Bolingbroke and 8th Viscount St John (1927–2010)
• Henry FitzRoy St John, 8th Viscount Bolingbroke and 9th Viscount St John (1957–2011)
• Nicholas Alexander Mowbray St. John, 9th Viscount Bolingbroke and 10th Viscount St John (Template:Born in)

Viscounts St John and Barons St John of Battersea (1716)

• Henry St John, 1st Viscount St John (1652–1742)
• John St John, 2nd Viscount St John (Template:Circa–1749)
• Frederick St John, 3rd Viscount St John (1732–1787) (succeeded as 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke)

see above for further succession

See also

• Baron St John
• Earl of Bolingbroke
• Viscount Grandison
• Earl of Orkney

External links

• Template:Cite book
• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.Template:Page needed
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