Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso

Who was Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso?

Oliver St John of Bletsoe, 1st Baron St John of Bletso was an English peer.

St John was the son of Sir John St John of Bletsoe and Spelsbury and his wife Margaret. His paternal great-great-great-grandfather Sir Oliver St John of Bletsoe, Spelsbury and Lydiard Tregoze was the husband of Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso, great-great-granddaughter of Roger de Beauchamp, who was summoned to Parliament as Baron Beauchamp of Bletso from 1363 to 1379. Since then that title had not been assumed although St John was considered to be the line of heir. In 1558 he was raised to the peerage himself as Baron St John of Bletso, in the County of Bedford.

He was elected as knight of the shire for Bedfordshire in 1547. He served as High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in 1551 and from 1560 to 1569 was Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire.

Lord St John of Bletso married Agnes Fisher. He died in May 1582 and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son John.