Henry St John, 1st Viscount St John

Henry St. John, 1st Viscount St. John DL (baptized 17 October 1652 – died 8 April 1742), of Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire; Battersea, Surrey; and Berkeley Street, Westminster, Middlesex, was an English politician.

[1] He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Wootton Bassett October 1679–March 1681, 1685–87, 1689–95 and 1698–1700 and for Wiltshire 1695–98.

He also served as a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) from 1683 and Justice of the Peace (JP) from 1685 for the county of Wiltshire[1] In November 1684 he was the principal figure in a singularly disgraceful brawl, which followed the acquittal of Edward Nosworthy.

While there, an altercation broke out between St John and Francis Stonehouse, the argument reportedly "a discourse about leaping horses" which terminated in the death of the jury foreman, Sir William Estcourt.

St. John and Edmund Webb, who had both run Estcourt through with their swords,[2] were found guilty of murder, and condemned to death.