John H. Bartlett was an American teacher, high school principal, lawyer, author and Republican politician from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Bartlett then attended Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire, at the time called Colby Academy.

[2] Bartlett's most successful and important case was William Turner vs. Cocheco Manufacturing Company, in which a state law was established to furnish adequate fire escapes.

[5] Bartlett began to take an active part in political movements and allied with the Republican Party.

[5] Bartlett left the position of postmaster to serve on former Governor John McLane's staff.

[6] Former Governor Robert P. Bass appointed Bartlett as the representative of the state of New Hampshire at the sixth annual meeting of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, which was held at Philadelphia in March, 1912.

Declining to run for a second term, Bartlett served as president of the United States Civil Service Commission and was then appointed as the first United States Assistant Postmaster General in 1922, sponsoring the first transcontinental air mail service.

Bartlett signed the purple lilac into law as the state flower of New Hampshire on March 28, 1919.