Barbara St John (d1672) Sister to Sir John St John. 1st Bt. and wife of Sir Edward Villiers

Barbara St. John was born c1590, probably at Lydiard House, the 5th surviving daughter of Sir John St. John and his wife Lucy Hungerford. Sisters Lucy and Barbara, who were still very young at the time of the death of their parents, were placed in the care of their uncle, Sir Oliver St. John at his Battersea estate.

Barbara married Edward Villiers in 1611 in what might not have appeared at first a particularly advantageous liaison; that is until Edward’s half-brother George became King James’s favourite. George was made first a Knight of the Garter, then Viscount Villiers, and eventually Duke of Buckingham taking his Villiers family with him on his rapid ascent at court.

Barbara outlived her husband and four of her eight children. She had lived through the reign of four monarchs and two Lord Protectors. She had seen the devastation of the English Civil Wars and the beheading of a King, the institution of the Commonwealth and the restoration of the monarchy, the union of the English & Scottish crowns and the failure of the Gunpowder Plot.

On September 3, 1672 Barbara Villiers signed her will. On September 16 she was buried in the north ambulatory near St. Paul’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey.

Medium - oil on canvas

Measurements - H 68 x W 56

Purchased in 1965 from Vernon St.John, 6th Vsct. Bolingbroke