Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (16 September 1678 – 12 December 1751), was an English politician and philosopher.
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (16 September 1678 – 12 December 1751), was an English politician and philosopher. He identified predominantly with the Tory faction, of which he was a prominent member for many years. He was born at Battersea, the son of Sir Henry St John (later 1st Viscount St John) and Lady Mary Rich, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Warwick. He was baptized on 10 October 1678, and educated at Eton. He travelled abroad during 1698 and 1699 and acquired an exceptional knowledge of French, but also led an exceptionally dissipated and extravagant youth. Oliver Goldsmith reported that he had been seen to "run naked through the park in a state of intoxication". 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, Bart., of Bucklebury, Berkshire, but this made little difference to his lifestyle. Early career He was returned to Parliament in 1701 for the family borough of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire, as a Tory. His seat was Lydiard Park at Lydiard Tregoze, now in the Borough of Swindon. He attached himself to Robert Harley (afterwards Lord Oxford), then speaker, and distinguished himself by his eloquence in debate, eclipsing his schoolfellow, Robert Walpole, and gaining an extraordinary ascendancy over the House of Commons. In May, he had charge of the bill for securing the Protestant succession; he took part in the impeachment of the Whig lords for their conduct concerning the Partition treaties, and opposed the oath of loyalty against the "Old Pretender". In March 1702, he was chosen commissioner for taking the public accounts. After Queen Anne's accession, St John supported the bills in 1702 and 1704 against occasional conformity, and took a leading part in the disputes which arose between the two Houses. In 1704, St John took office with Harley
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