Arms of St John: Argent, on a chief gules two mullets or
Oliver St John of Bletsoe, 1st Baron St John of Bletso (c. 1522 – 21 April 1582)[1] was an Englishpeer.
Personal life
He was the son of Sir John St John (Bedfordshire MP) (born 1498) of Bletsoe (Bedfordshire) and Spelsbury (Oxfordshire) 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, Wiltshire (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]
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]
Thomas St John, of Thurley, Bedfordshire (inherited when St. John of Thurley became extinct; Thomas St. John of Thurley was named as brother to Judith St. John Pelham), who 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 of Cayshoe and Anne St. John. He also had several step-children. Oliver St John of Cayshoe was the father of Oliver St John, the barrister and leader of the Parliamentary cause who served as Solicitor General of England 1641-48 and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 1648-60.[5]
Francis St John
Martha St John, who married firstly, John Cheney and secondly, James Colbrond
Judith St John, who married Sir John Pelham
Margaret St John, who married Nicholas Luke
Anne St John, who married firstly, Robert Corbet. After his death in 1583, she married Sir Robert Lytton.
Margery St John
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).[6][7]
Death
He died on 21 April 1582 and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son John.[1]
^John Harwood Hill, History of Market Harborough (Leicester, 1875), pp. 5–6.
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.
