ST JOHN, Paulet (Powlett) (1634-1711)

Bolingbroke succeeded to the peerage on the death of his brother following a lengthy, if unimpressive, career as Member for Bedford. Marked variously doubly worthy, and worthy by Anthony Ashley Cooper, earl of Shaftesbury, in 1676, and in 1679 as a supporter of the opposition, St John was kept out of the commission of the peace for Bedfordshire during the ascendancy of Thomas Bruce, 2nd earl of Ailesbury, the St Johns’ principal rival in the county. HP Commons 1660-90, iii. 383; Beds. Hist. Rec. Soc. xx. 196.

Ostensibly succeeding to a substantial estate based in Bedfordshire, Bolingbroke soon found himself in financial straits; the overriding theme of his tenure of the earldom is one of pecuniary embarrassment. Almost immediately on inheriting the earldom he was embroiled in a suit in chancery with his cousin Sir St Andrew St John^‡, co-executor with Bolingbroke of the former lord’s will. St John accused him of seeking to overturn the will by suggesting that his brother, Oliver St John, earl of Bolingbroke, had not been in his right mind when he made it. TNA, C9/117/41. Differences between the two men continued, and in 1706 Bolingbroke made a series of settlements with his cousin, who was at that point heir presumptive to the barony of St John.

Opposed to James II’s policies, Bolingbroke welcomed the Williamite invasion, and there is no reason to believe that he paid any heed to Ailesbury’s order to provide four horses for the county militia in November. Beds. Archives, J 1427. Responding to William’s summons, he attended in the queen’s presence chamber on 21 Dec. 1688 when he signed the Association. He was then present for the subsequent sessions of the provisional government held on 22, 24 and 25 December. Kingdom without a King, 124, 151, 153, 158, 165; Bodl. ms Eng. hist. d. 307, ff. 12-13. The 1689 election for Bedford found the town still evenly balanced between Bolingbroke and Ailesbury. Thomas Hillersden^‡ was probably assisted by Bolingbroke, while Thomas Christie^‡ was returned on the Bruce interest. Ailesbury’s allegiance to the former king meant that he was put out of the recordership and replaced by Bolingbroke. HP Commons 1690-1715, i. 128; ii. 9.

Bolingbroke took his seat in the Convention on 25 Jan. 1689 after which he sat for approximately 61 per cent of all sitting days in the session. Unlike his brother Bolingbroke proved to be no more active in the Lords than he had been in the Commons, and although he was named to 16 committees during the first session, he does not appear to have played any particular role within them. On 31 Jan. he voted in favour of declaring William and Mary king and queen and the same day entered his dissent at the resolution not to concur with the Commons that the throne was ‘vacant’. Bolingbroke again sided with the Commons on 4 Feb., voting in favour of the use of the word ‘abdicated’ and entered his dissent when the Commons’ resolution was overturned. Two days later he supported the Commons again on the same matter. Bolingbroke was excused attendance on account of poor health on 4 March. He resumed his seat on 18 Mar. and took the oaths. Named one of the reporters of the conference for the dissenters’ toleration bill on 22 May, on 31 May he voted in favour of reversing the perjury judgments against Titus Oates and subscribed the protest when the House resolved not to do so. Bolingbroke was entrusted with additional local responsibility when he was appointed custos rotulorum of Bedfordshire in July 1689. On 30 July he voted against adhering to the Lords’ amendments to the reversal of the judgments against Oates and subscribed the protest when the resolution to do so was carried. Bolingbroke resumed his seat for the second session of the Convention on 11 Nov. 1689, but he was then present for a mere 22 per cent of the session. In a list compiled between October 1689 and February 1690 Thomas Osborne, marquess of Carmarthen, regarded him as an opponent of the court.

The general election saw the two county seats in Bedfordshire shared between the Russell and St John interest, while Christie and Hillersden were again returned for the borough. HP Commons 1690-1715, ii. 5, 9. Bolingbroke took his seat in the new Parliament on 27 Mar. 1690 and sat with greater consistency, attending approximately 62 per cent of all sitting days. Absent briefly in May, he registered his proxy on 3 May with Thomas Grey, 2nd earl of Stamford, vacated on his return two days later. Bolingbroke was again absent from 8-20 May, but he did not register a proxy to cover his absence. Returning to the House on 20 May he sat for two more days before quitting the session.

Mentioned in a letter of 4 Sept. as having been unwell, St John sat for just one day of the second (1690-1) session. He arrived for the 1691-2 session on 23 Nov. 1691, when he again sat for just one day before vacating his seat for almost two months. NAS, GD 406/1/10317. Resuming his place on 13 Jan. 1692 he was thereafter regular in his attendance, although overall he was present for just 24 per cent of the session. Bolingbroke took his seat for the following session on 19 Nov. 1692 but sat for just three days before absenting himself for the remainder of the year. On 7 Dec. he was reported to be ‘very ill’, but he rallied sufficiently to return to the House on 3 Jan. 1693, after which he sat for the remainder of the month and for the majority of February. Verney ms mic. M636/46, J. to Sir R. Verney, 7 Dec. 1692. Associated with those peers supporting ‘country’ issues, on 3 Jan. he voted in favour of passing the place bill, and on 4 Feb. he found Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun, not guilty of murder.

Absent at the opening of the 1693-4 session, Bolingbroke took his seat on 21 Nov.; he was again present for just 24 per cent of the entire session. On 22 Feb. 1694 Bolingbroke may have been one of those to contribute to the debate on the trials for treason bill, but otherwise he appears to have made little impression on the House for the following two years and he failed to sit at all for the entirety of 1695. Leics. RO, DG 7 Box 4959 P.P. 107. Poor health appears to have been the reason for his absence and towards the end of 1694 premature reports circulated of his demise, though these were quickly contradicted. Add. 46527, ff. 30-31. Bolingbroke did employ his interest in the 1695 elections. Hillersden was again successful in Bedford, but divisions between the St John and Russell connections led to Lord Edward Russell^‡ and Thomas Browne^‡ standing separately for the county and allowed William Duncombe^‡ in at Browne’s expense.

Bolingbroke resumed his seat in the House on 11 Feb. 1696 but once more sat for little more than two months before retiring for the remainder of the session. He returned to the House on 30 Nov. 1696, and on 23 Dec. he voted in favour of the attainder of Sir John Fenwick^‡. Thereafter, a further lengthy absence ensued with Bolingbroke failing to attend for almost seven years. He registered his proxy in favour of Stamford on 12 Mar. 1697 and again on 30 June 1698 but thereafter was unable to do so as he did not attend to take the oaths in the new Parliament. Poor health and financial problems were probably the reasons for his seclusion. In 1698 Bolingbroke was involved in a case in chancery brought by the heirs of Sir Rowland Alston, who had named Bolingbroke as one of his executors. Although Bolingbroke refused to act, he continued to be troubled by business concerning the case for a number of years. C5/360/27; C5/135/1; C33/291, ff. 91, 630.

Excused at a call of the House on 5 Jan. 1702, the following year Bolingbroke was listed consistently among those thought to be opposed to the occasional conformity bill. He returned to the House on 8 Dec. 1703, and on 14 Dec. he behaved as expected by voting to throw out the bill. Bolingbroke sat for the final time on 14 Feb. 1704. On 8 Dec. he registered his proxy in favour of Charles Spencer* , 3rd earl of Sunderland, but thereafter he played no further part in the House’s business.

Bolingbroke’s remaining years were marked by ill health and a worsening financial situation. Beds. Archives, J 1233. Having already attempted to sell Melchbourne in 1698, in 1706 he sold the manor of Yielden (already mortgaged to William Fermor, Baron Leominster for £24,000) to Samuel and Jeremy Vanacker for £16,340, and three years later he sold another estate at Keysoe to his kinsman, John Holles, duke of Newcastle. J. Habakkuk, Marriage, Debt, and the Estates System, 429, 507, 509; Beds. Archives, J 40. Classified as a Whig in a list of 1708, Bolingbroke was described as ‘lying dangerously ill’ in mid-March 1710, and he was still sick at the time of the Sacheverell vote on 20 March. Add. 61590, ff. 183-4; Add. 15574, ff. 65-68. He died the following year on or shortly after 15 Oct. 1711, the date of his final will. Longleat, Bath mss Thynne pprs. 47, ff. 335-6. The majority of sources give his death date as 5 Oct., which must be a mistake. He was buried at Bletsoe on 25 October. Beds. Par. Reg. ed. F.G. Emmison, pp. xxiv. A27. In his will he conveyed what remained of his estate to his cousin, William St John, later 9th Baron St John. On his death the earldom became extinct, but the barony of St John was inherited by his young cousin, Paulet St Andrew St John, 8th Baron St John, who died in 1714 before attaining his majority.