Portrait of Ferdinand St.John (1804-1865)

Watercolour portrait of Ferdinand St.John (1804-1865) the eldest legitimate son of George Richard St.John, 3rd Viscount Bolingbroke and his second wife Isabella von Hompesch.

Ferdinand was the heir presumptive to the lands and titles of the Viscountsy of Bolingbroke from 1851 until his death in 1865, a position which his eldest son, Rev. Canon Maurice St.John, then assumed but was ultimately denied.

St.John family tradition holds that Ferdinand was something of a mentor to his rather shy and reticent young nephew, Henry 5th Viscount Bolingbroke, helping to bring him out into society. He is described as ' a cheery, breezy, energetic person with an inexhaustible supply of high spirits which lasted during the greater part of his life'. (see Report no 34 The Decline and Fall of the St.Johns of Lydiard Tregoze by Brian Carne).

The picture shows Ferdinand as a young man, probably in his twenties though it is believed to have been painted in 1865.