Alexander St John

Sir Alexander St John was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1621 and 1629.

St John was a son of Oliver St John, 3rd Baron St John of Bletso and his wife Dorothy Reid, daughter of Sir John Rede or Reid, of Odington, Gloucestershire.^[1] He was knighted on 5 August 1608 at Bletsoe together with his brother Anthony.^[2]

In 1614 St John was elected Member of Parliament for Bedford and was re-elected in 1621 and 1624. In 1626 and 1628 he was elected MP for Barnstaple. He sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.^[3]

St John married Margaret Draynor, the widow of Thomas Draynor and daughter of John Trye, of Hardwick, Gloucestershire. He survived her death in 1656 and caused a white marble monument, adorned with pilasters, entablature, pediment, and two Cupids, to be erected in her memory in the church of St Leonards, Shoreditch.^[4] His eldest brother Oliver inherited the Barony and became Earl of Bolingbroke. His brother Beauchamp sat as MP for Bedford after him and his brother Anthony was MP for Wigan.^[1]

References

1. Archaeologia Cambrensis (1861)
2. Knights of England
3. Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
4. Robert Wilkinson Londina Illustrata. Graphic and Historical Memorials of Monasteries, Churches, Chapels, Schools, Charitable Foundations, Palaces, Halls, Courts, Processions, Places of Early Amusement, and Modern Present Theatres, in the Cities and Suburbs of London and Westminster, Volume 2 St. John's House, Hoxton