Locks of hair - St.John family

Four little locks of hair were individually preserved in envelopes by the St.John family from the 19th century.

The first two are carefully wrapped and labelled 'My dear mother's hair' and My dear father's hair'. These belonged to Henry St.John 4th Viscount Bolingbroke and his wife Maria St.John Mildmay and were lovingly preserved by their eldest son, Henry Mildmay St.John, later 5th Viscount Bolingbroke.

The third envelope to be kept is inscribed 'My haircut August 31st 1842 and belonged to the 5th Viscount himself. He was 27years at the time.

The fourth lock is labelled 'Vernon's first haircut' in a later hand. Vernon Henry St.John, later 6th Viscount Bolingbroke, was the last lord to live in the family's ancestral home at Lydiard Park. Photographs of him as a child show him with a fulsome set of ringlets; it was no doubt a memorable day when they were cut off.