Baron St John of Bletso

Baron St John of Bletso, in the County of Bedford, is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1582 for Oliver St John.

For a period, the title Baron St John was subsumed within the title Earl of Bolingbroke which was granted to the fourth Baron. The Earldom died out with the third Earl, but the Barony continued via another branch which had since become the baronet line. The eldest son of the 1st Earl was advanced to the barony by Writ of acceleration under King Charles I to become the 5th Baron. However he died in the civil war without becoming Earl, This resulted in the existence of an additional baron in the sequence but this was not taken into account by the family when the barony was continued.

Hence there is a discrepancy between the complete numbered series used by Burke and Debrett, and the numbering series in use by the family, particularly in the 18th and 19th century. Hence the numbers on family graves of this time are one less than the numbers used in the principal peerage registers that form the basis for this article.

Oliver St John, the 1st Baron was the great-great-grandson of Sir John St John (died c. 1482), eldest son of Sir John Oliver St John of Bletso (died 1437), the husband of Margaret, great-great-granddaughter of Roger de Beauchamp (died 1380), who was summoned to Parliament as Baron Beauchamp of Bletso from 1363 to 1379. Since then that title had not been assumed although Oliver St John was considered to be the line of heir. He was succeeded by his son, the second Baron. He was one of the peers who sat during the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots. He died without male heirs and the claim to the barony of Beauchamp of Bletshoe passed to his daughter Anne, the wife of William Howard, Lord Howard Effingham, eldest son and heir of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham.

He was succeeded in the barony of St John of Bletsoe by his younger brother, the third Baron. The latter's son, the fourth Baron, was created Earl of Bolingbroke in 1624. His eldest son and heir apparent, Oliver St John, was in 1641 summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron St John of Bletsoe. However, he predeceased his father (killed at the Battle of Edgehill in 1642) but due to the writ of acceleration issued he is known as the fifth Baron St John of Bletsoe. The Earl was succeeded by his grandson, the second Earl. He was the son of Sir Paulet St John, younger son of the first Earl. He died childless and was succeeded by his younger brother, the third Earl, who represented Bedford in the House of Commons. He never married and on his death in 1711 the earldom became extinct.

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