Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso

Oliver St John of Bletsoe, 1st Baron St John of Bletso (c. 1522 – 21 April 1582)[1] was an English peer. He was the son of Sir John St John (born 1498) of Bletsoe and Spelsbury and his first wife Margaret, the daughter of Sir William Waldegrave.[2] His paternal great-great-great-grandfather Sir Oliver St John of Bletsoe, Spelsbury and Lydiard Tregoze (d. 1437) was the husband of Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso, great-great-granddaughter of Roger de Beauchamp, who was summoned to Parliament as Baron Beauchamp of Bletso from 1363 to 1379. Since then that title had not been assumed, although St John was considered to be the line of heir. On 13 January 1559 he was raised to the peerage himself as Baron St John of Bletso, in the county of Bedfordshire.[1]

Oliver St John
Baron St John of Bletso
Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso by Arnold Bronckorst, 1578
Born	c. 1522 Bletsoe, Bedfordshire
Died	21 April 1582 (aged 59–60)
Spouse(s)	Agnes Fisher Elizabeth Chamber
Issue John St John, 2nd Baron St John of Bletso Oliver St John, 3rd Baron St John of Bletso Thomas St John Francis St John Martha St John Judith St John Margaret St John Anne St John Margery St John Agnes St John
Father	Sir John St John
Mother	Margaret Waldegrave
Occupation	English peer

Arms of St John: Argent, on a chief gules two mullets or

Career

He served in the household of Prince Edward and on his master's accession as Edward VI in 1547, he entered the royal household.[1] He was elected as knight of the shire (MP) for Bedfordshire in 1547.[1] He served as High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in 1551 and from 1560 to 1569 was Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire.[3]

The offices he held during his career included:[1]

• Gentleman waiter extraordinary, household of Prince Edward by 1547
• Gentleman waiter extraordinary, royal household 1547
• Commissioner, relief, Bedfordshire 1550
• Commissioner, musters 1560
• Commissioner, ecclesiastical causes, dioceses of Lincoln and Peterborough 1571, 1575
• High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire 1551–1552
• Justice of the Peace, Bedfordshire 1554–1558, q. 1558/59–1582, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire 1562–1582
• Custos rotulorum, Bedfordshire 1558/59
• Lord Lieutenant, Bedfordshire 1569

Marriages and issue

Lord St John of Bletso married twice. He married firstly, before 8 February 1542, Agnes, the daughter of Sir John Fisher,[1] and by her had four sons and six daughters:[4]

• John St John, 2nd Baron St John of Bletso
• Oliver St John, 3rd Baron St John of Bletso
• Thomas St John, of Thurley, Bed. (inherited when St. John of Thurley became extinct; Thomas St. John of Thurley was named as brother to Judith St. John Pelham); married Anne Bourne, widow of Thomas Chicheley and daughter of Sir John Bourne. Thomas St. John was buried 27 Dec 1621. Had at least two children: Oliver St. John and Anne St. John. He also had several step-children.
• Francis St John
• Martha St John married firstly, John Cheney and secondly, James Colbrond
• Judith St John married Sir John Pelham
• Margaret St John married Nicholas Luke
• Anne St John married firstly, Robert Corbet and secondly, Sir Robert Lytton
• Margery St Johny
• Agnes St John

He married, before 28 August 1572, Elizabeth, the daughter of Geoffrey Chamber, and widow of Sir Walter Stonor (died 1551), Reginald Conyers (died 1560) and Edward Griffin (died 1569).[5]

Death

He died on 21 April 1582 and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son John.[1]

Notes

1. Fuidge 1982.
2. Richardson III 2011, p. 286.
3. Richardson III 2011, p. 288.
4. Richardson III 2011, p. 288–9.
5. Richardson III 2011, p. 289.

References

• Fuidge, N. M. (1982). "St. John, Oliver (by 1522–82), of Bletsoe, Beds.". In Bindoff, S. T. (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558. Historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
• Kidd, Charles; Williamson, David, eds. (1990). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9780333388471. OCLC 642884342.
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.). Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. III (2nd ed.). CreateSpace. ISBN 9781461045137.

External links

• History of Parliament St John, Oliver (by 1522-82) of Bletsoe, Beds A biography
• Oliver St. John, Baron St. John of Bletso Family tree
• Portraits of Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso at the National Portrait Gallery, London