Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke

Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, 3rd Viscount St John was born on 21 December 1732. His father was John St John, 2nd Viscount St John, half-brother of Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751). His mother was Anne Furnese and his younger brother General the Hon. Henry St John (1738–1818).

Bolingbroke was educated at Eton College, Berkshire. He succeeded to the title of 3rd Baron St John of Battersea on 19 June 1748. He succeeded to the title of 3rd Viscount St John on 26 November 1748.

"Bully," as he was called by his contemporaries, is best known for his extravagant lifestyle and the racehorses he bred. On 8 September 1757 he married Lady Diana Spencer, elder daughter of the Duke of Marlborough after making a joking proposal to her in one of London's pleasure gardens. Bolingbroke's insistence on maintaining a bachelor's lifestyle (which included lavish spending, a string of mistresses, heavy drinking and gambling) after their marriage, coupled with verbal and, possibly, physical spousal abuse, led to a bitter separation between Bully and the popular and artistic Lady Diana. Bolingbroke brought divorce proceedings against his wife for her criminal conversation with Topham Beauclerk, with whom she bore a child. The Bolingbroke divorce is notable for being streamlined compared to similar proceedings and thus is credited with easing the way for noble divorces in the 19th century.

Things worsened for Viscount Bolingbroke after his divorce. The damages he won from Beauclerk were paltry compared to the mountain of debt he acquired. Rather than economize he chose to sell his prized racehorse. Even before his divorce his tight finances led to his sponsoring changes in law that allowed inheritors to sell off family properties. Once the law was passed he set about selling property that had been in his family for centuries. In 1763 he sold the estate of Battersea, Surrey to Viscount Spencer. Eventually, he begged for and received a post as Lord of the Bedchamber in the court of King George III—a post he'd previously held while still married to Lady Diana, but given up due to a combination of disinterest and indolence. In the meantime he never stopped searching for an heiress old enough or unattractive enough (and therefore desperate to marry) to wed a man of questionable finances and reputation. This led to laughable "courtships" with well-bred spinsters, including one who herself had lost her fortune to gambling.

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