Sir John St John (c.1585-1648), aged 17 (later 1st Bt)

Sir John St.John 1st Baronet

This portrait of dashing John St John, dressed in blue silk and wearing a pearl earring, would have caused the fluttering of a few young hearts no doubt, but John was already spoken for. He was about 17 years old when this was painted in 1603, the year before his marriage. 

John was the second son of Sir John and his wife Lucy Hungerford. His father died in 1594 when John was about 8 years old. His mother quickly remarried but by 1598 she too was dead. 

The guardianship of the young, wealthy boy, went first to a member of the senior branch of the family, another Sir John St John, 2nd Baron St John of Bletsoe and after his death in 1596 to the boy's uncle Oliver St John, Viscount Grandison. However, another gentleman had his eye on the St John family fortunes, Sir Thomas Leighton, Governor of Guernsey. 

Still a ward of court, John married Sir Thomas Leighton’s daughter Anne at St John's Church, Hackney, close to her London home, on July 9, 1604. He was 19 years old and she was just 13. It seems unlikely that the couple set up home together immediately as the first of their 13 children was born eight years later in 1612.

John was responsible for enlarging the old manor house at Lydiard but his greatest contribution to the Lydiard estate must be the magnificent memorials in St. Mary’s Church – the St. John Polyptych, the Golden Cavalier and the St. John memorial.

Following the death of his uncle Oliver, Viscount Grandison in 1630 John inherited the Battersea Manor House where his death there in 1648 caused a bit of a hoo-ha. John, a mere Baronet, lay in state at Battersea before his funeral at Lydiard where son Walter went rather overboard, arranging a ceremony fit for an earl or a duke. This got him into trouble with the heralds, those servants of the monarch responsible for the arrangement of state occasions.

Sir John St John 1st Baronet and his wife Anne Leighton produced 13 children and no doubt expected their inheritance was well protected. However, of this large family only three survived their father's death in 1648.

The portrait of the young John St John was purchased in 1965 and now hangs in the Dining Room at Lydiard House.

About the Portrait

Medium - oil on canvas

Measurements - H 124 x W 100 cm

Purchased - 1965