Viscount Bolingbroke is a current title in the
Peerage of Great Britain
The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself re ...
created in 1712 for
Henry St John. He was simultaneously made Baron St John, of
Lydiard Tregoze
Lydiard Tregoze is a small village and civil parish on the western edge of Swindon in the county of Wiltshire, in the south-west of England. It has in the past been spelt as Liddiard Tregooze and in many other ways.
The parish includes the sm ...
in the
County of Wilts
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
. Since 1751, the titles are merged with the titles of Viscount St John and Baron St John in the same peerage.
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
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
.
Grants of titles
Baronetcy in 1611
John St John later represented
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
in Parliament and was a strong
royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gov ...
during the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
. On 22 May 1611, he was created a Baronet,
of Lydiard Tregoze in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, in the
Baronetage of England
Baronets are a rank in the British aristocracy. The current Baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced the earlier but existing Baronetages of England, Nova Scotia, Ireland, and Great Britain.
Baronetage of England (1611–1705)
King James ...
.
Baronies and viscountcies
A younger son of John St John, 3rd Baronet, was elected for
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
and
Wootton Bassett
Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies to the west of the major ...
, Wiltshire equally his son in turn (4th Baronet). In 1716 the latter was created Baron St John, of Battersea
[ 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 Wellesley Mowbray St John had already been created Baron St John, of Lydiard Tregoze, and Viscount Bolingbroke in 1712 (see below). He 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 son of the "second son" mentioned, the 3rd and 4th Viscount, was elected briefly for ]Cricklade
Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227.
History
Cricklade ...
, Wiltshire. the titles are held by his descendant, the 8th Viscount Bolingbroke and 9th Viscount St John. He lives in New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
. As of 28 February 2014, the present Baronet has not successfully proven his succession and is therefore not on the Official Roll of the Baronetage, with the baronetcy considered dormant since 1974.
The titles Baron St John, of Lydiard Tregoze in the County of Wilts, and Viscount Bolingbroke were created in the Peerage of Great Britain
The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself re ...
in 1712 for the politician and orator the Hon. Henry Wellesley Mowbray St John, the eldest son of Henry Wellesley Mowbray St John, 1st Viscount St John. 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, the second Viscount, who had already succeeded as third Viscount St John in 1749 (see above).
Family seats and abodes
An established family seat was, from 1420 until sale in 1943, Lydiard House
Lydiard Park is a country park at Lydiard Tregoze, which was its former name, about west of central Swindon, Wiltshire, England, near Junction 16 of the M4 motorway.
The park, which is included on the Historic England Register of Historic Par ...
, Lydiard Tregoze
Lydiard Tregoze is a small village and civil parish on the western edge of Swindon in the county of Wiltshire, in the south-west of England. It has in the past been spelt as Liddiard Tregooze and in many other ways.
The parish includes the sm ...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
.
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.[''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. This became the de facto seat of the lord of the manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
title inherited from the 1st Baronet from Viscount Grandison, buried there with great pomp in 1648.[ In 1742 the then Lord Bolingbroke, who, in spite of his ]attainder
In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditar ...
, had been enabled to inherit the estate by an Act of 1725, lent the manor house to his friend Hugh Hume, 3rd Earl of Marchmont
Hugh Hume-Campbell, 3rd Earl of Marchmont PC FRS (15 February 1708 – 10 January 1794), styled Lord Polwarth between 1724 and 1740, was a Scottish politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1734 until 1740 when he succeeded to the peerag ...
.[ Later he settled there himself, either in 1743 or early in the following year and there spent the remainder of his life.][ 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.][
]
Coat of arms
The heraldic blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The ...
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 Wellesley Mowbray St John, 1st Baronet
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
(died 1648)
* Sir JohnWellesley Mowbray St John, 2nd Baronet (1638–1657)[Wiltshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812]
* Sir Walter Wellesley Mowbray St John, 3rd Baronet (1622–1708)
* Sir Henry Wellesley Mowbray St John, 4th Baronet (1652–1742) (created Viscount St John in 1716)
Viscounts St John (1716)
* Henry Wellesley Mowbray St John, 1st Viscount St John (1652–1742)
* John Wellesley Mowbray St John, 2nd Viscount St John (–1749)
* Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, 3rd Viscount St John (1732–1787)
* George Richard St John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke, 4th Viscount St John (1761–1824)
* Henry Wellesley Mowbray St John, 4th Viscount Bolingbroke, 5th Viscount St John (1786–1851)
* Henry Wellesley Mowbray St John, 5th Viscount Bolingbroke, 6th Viscount St John (1820–1899)
* Vernon Henry Wellesley Mowbray St John, 6th Viscount Bolingbroke, 7th Viscount St John (1896–1974)
*Kenneth Oliver Musgrave Wellesley Mowbray St John, 7th Viscount Bolingbroke, 8th Viscount St John (1927–2010)
*Henry FitzRoy Wellesley Mowbray St John, 8th Viscount Bolingbroke, 9th Viscount St John (1957–2011)
*Edward Wiliam Stephen Stourton Wellesley Mowbray St. John, 10th Viscount Bolingbroke, 10th Viscount St John (born 1956)
(The current Viscount's eldest son is his heir apparent.)
Viscounts Bolingbroke (1712)
* Henry Wellesley Mowbray St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751)
* Frederick Wellesley Mowbray St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, 3rd Viscount St John (1732–1787)
''see above for further succession''
See also
* Baron St John
* Earl of Bolingbroke
* Viscount Grandison
*Earl of Orkney
Earl of Orkney, historically Jarl of Orkney, is a title of nobility encompassing the archipelagoes of Orkney and Shetland, which comprise the Northern Isles of Scotland. Originally founded by Norse invaders, the status of the rulers of the Nort ...
Notes
References
External links
*
*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolingbroke
Viscountcies in the Peerage of Great Britain
Peerages created with special remainders
St John family
Noble titles created in 1712
1712 establishments in Great Britain