Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (/ˈsɪndʒɪn ˈbɒlɪŋbrʊk/; 16 September 1678 – 12 December 1751) was an English politician, government official and political philosopher. He was a leader of the Tories, and supported the Church of England politically despite his antireligious views and opposition to theology.[1][2][3][4][5] He supported the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 which sought to overthrow the new king George I. Escaping to France he became foreign minister for James Francis Edward Stuart. He was attainted for treason, but reversed course and was allowed to return to England in 1723. According to Ruth Mack, "Bolingbroke is best known for his party politics, including the ideological history he disseminated in The Craftsman (1726–1735) by adopting the formerly Whig theory of the Ancient Constitution and giving it new life as an anti-Walpole Tory principle."[6]
For other people named Henry St. John, see Henry St. John (disambiguation).
The Viscount Bolingbroke
Anne
Anne
12 December 1751 (aged 73)
Battersea, London,
Great Britain
- Frances Winchcombe
- Marie Claire des Champs
- Henry St John, 1st Viscount St John
- Lady Mary Rich
Early life[edit]
Henry St John was most probably born at Lydiard Tregoze, the family seat in Wiltshire, and christened in Battersea.[7] St John was the son of Sir Henry St John, 4th Baronet later 1st Viscount St John, and Lady Mary Rich, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Warwick.[8] Although it has been asserted that St John was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford, his name does not appear on registers for either institution and there is no evidence to support either claim.[9] It is possible he was educated at a Dissenting academy.[10]
He travelled to France, Switzerland and Italy during 1698 and 1699 and acquired an exceptional knowledge of French.[8] St John made friends with the Whigs James Stanhope and Edward Hopkins and corresponded with the Tory Sir William Trumball, who advised him: "There appears indeed amongst us [in England] a strong disposition to liberty, but neither honesty nor virtue enough to support it".
Oliver Goldsmith reported that he had been seen to "run naked through the park in a state of intoxication". Jonathan Swift, his intimate friend, said that he wanted to be thought the Alcibiades or Petronius of his age, and to mix licentious orgies with the highest political responsibilities. In 1700, he married Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Winchcombe of Bucklebury, Berkshire, but this made little difference to his lifestyle.[8]
Attainder of Viscount Bolingbroke Act 1714
An act for the attainder of Henry viscount Bolingbroke of high treason, unless he shall render himself to justice by a day certain therein mentioned.
1 Geo. 1. St. 2. c. 16
20 August 1715
An Act for enabling Henry St. John late Viscount Bolingbroke, and the Heirs Male of his Body, notwithstanding his Attainder, to take and enjoy several Manors, Lands, and Hereditaments, in the Counties of Wilts, Surrey, and Middlesex, according to such Estates and Interests as to him or them are limited thereof by the Quinquepartite Indenture and other Assurances therein mentioned; and for limiting the same, in Default of Issue Male of the Body of the said late Viscount Bolingbroke, to the other Sons of Henry Viscount St. John successively in Tail Male; and for other Purposes therein expressed.
11 Geo. 1. c. 40
31 May 1725
Death[edit]
In 1744, he had been very busy assisting in the negotiations for the establishment of the new "broad bottom" administration, and showed no sympathy for the Jacobite expedition in 1745. He recommended the tutor for Prince George, afterwards George III. About 1749, he wrote the Present State of the Nation, an unfinished pamphlet. Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield records the last words heard from him: "God who placed me here will do what He pleases with me hereafter and He knows best what to do". He died on 12 December 1751, aged 73, his second wife having predeceased him by one year. They were both buried in St Mary's, the parish church at Battersea, where a monument with medallions and inscriptions composed by Bolingbroke was erected to their memory.[15] The monument was sculpted by Roubiliac.[17]
He was succeeded in the title as 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke, according to the special remainder, by his half-nephew Frederick St John, 3rd Viscount St John (a title granted to Bolingbroke's father in 1716), from whom the title has descended.[18] Frederick was the son of the 1st Viscount's half-brother John St John, by his father's second wife Angelica Magdalena Pelissary.
Country Party[edit]
Bolingbroke was especially influential in stating the need and outlining the machinery of a systematic parliamentary opposition. Such an opposition he called a "country party" which he opposed to the court party. Country parties had been formed before, for instance after the king's speech to Parliament in November 1685, but Bolingbroke was the first to state the need for a continual opposition to the government. To his mind the spirit of liberty was threatened by the court party's lust for power.[24]
Liberty could only be safeguarded by an opposition party that used "constitutional methods and a legal course of opposition to the excesses of legal and ministerial power" (On the Idea of a Patriot King p. 117). He instructed the opposition party to "Wrest the power of government, if you can, out of the hands that employed it weakly and wickedly" (On the Spirit of Patriotism p. 42). This work could be done only by a homogeneous party "because such a party alone will submit to a drudgery of this kind" (On the idea of a Patriot King p. 170). It was not enough to be eager to speak, keen to act. "They who affect to head an opposition ... must be equal, at least, to those whom they oppose" (On the Spirit of Patriotism p. 58). The opposition had to be of a permanent nature to make sure that it would be looked at as a part of daily politics. It had on every occasion to confront the government (On the Spirit of Patriotism p. 61). He considered a party that systematically opposed the government to be more appealing than a party that did so occasionally (On the Spirit of Patriotism pp. 62, 63). This opposition had to prepare itself to control government (On the Spirit of Patriotism p. 61).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). "Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, 1st Viscount". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons. pp. 40–41 – via Wikisource.
