Commons 1558-1603

In Mary’s last Parliament the senior county Member was Sir Francis Englefield, a Catholic, one of the Queen’s Privy Councillors and master of her court of wards, who withdrew to the Continent as a religious exile in 1559. He had entered Parliament as Member for Berkshire in Mary’s first Parliament and sat for the county in four of the five Parliaments of the reign. Before that, in Edward VI’s last Parliament, the two county Members had been Sir Henry Neville I and Sir William Fitzwilliam I, in that order of precedence.

The leading county family in Bedfordshire during this period was the St. John family of Bletsoe. There is some uncertainty about the identification of the 1559 MP, John St. John I, but he is thought to have been the younger brother of the 1st Lord St. John. In 1563, John St. John II, although only 19, was elected senior knight of the shire over the head of Lewis Mordaunt of Turvey, despite the latter’s considerable family standing and seniority in age. Lewis Mordaunt succeeded his father as 3rd Baron Mordaunt in 1571. John St. John II became 2nd Baron St. John in 1582.