{{Short description|English politician (d. 1657)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Alexander St John | image = | alt = | caption = | office1 = Member of Parliament for Barnstaple | term1 = 1626–1629 | office2 = Member of Parliament for Bedford | term2 = 1614–1624 | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date text|June 1657}} | death_place = | education = Queens' College, Cambridge | spouse = Margaret Draynor (d. 1656) | children = | father = Oliver St John | relatives = Rowland St John (brother)<br/>Oliver St John (brother)<br/>Anthony St John (brother)<br/>Beauchamp St John (brother)<br/>Henry St John (brother)<br/>Oliver St John (grandfather) }} '''Sir Alexander St John''' (died June 1657) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1621 and 1629.
==Biography== St John was a son of Oliver St John, 3rd Baron St John of Bletso and his wife Dorothy Reid, daughter of Sir John Rede or Reid, of Odington, Gloucestershire.<ref name=AC>[https://archive.org/stream/archaeologiacam07moorgoog#page/n25/mode/1up/search/Alexander Archaeologia Cambrensis (1861)]</ref> He was admitted fellow commoner at Queens' College, Cambridge on 9 November 1601.<ref>{{Acad|id=ST601A|name=Alexander St John}}</ref> He was knighted on 5 August 1608 at Bletsoe together with his brother Anthony.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/knightsofengland02shawuoft#page/n155/mode/2up Knights of England]</ref> Apart from Anthony, four other brothers, Oliver, Rowland, Beauchamp and Henry were to become MPs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/st-john-sir-alexander-1585-1657|title=ST. JOHN, Sir Alexander (c.1585-1657), of Renhold, Beds. and Tawstock, Devon; later of Shoreditch, Mdx. and Woodford, Northants.|publisher=History of Parliament Trust|accessdate=14 August 2019}}</ref>
In 1614 St John was elected Member of Parliament for Bedford and was re-elected in 1621 and 1624. In 1626 and 1628 he was elected MP for Barnstaple. He sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.<ref name=Willis>{{Cite Notitia Parliamentaria|converted=1|part=2|pages=229–239}}</ref>
St John married Margaret Draynor, the widow of Thomas Draynor and daughter of John Trye, of Hardwick, Gloucestershire. He survived her death in 1656 and caused a white marble monument, adorned with pilasters, entablature, pediment, and two Cupids, to be erected in her memory in the church of St Leonards, Shoreditch.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://dl.tufts.edu/view_text.jsp?urn=tufts:central:dca:MS004:MS004.002.057.001.00001&chapter=c.26 |title=Robert Wilkinson ''Londina Illustrata. Graphic and Historical Memorials of Monasteries, Churches, Chapels, Schools, Charitable Foundations, Palaces, Halls, Courts, Processions, Places of Early Amusement, and Modern Present Theatres, in the Cities and Suburbs of London and Westminster, Volume 2'' St. John's House, Hoxton |access-date=14 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720060817/http://dl.tufts.edu/view_text.jsp?urn=tufts:central:dca:MS004:MS004.002.057.001.00001&chapter=c.26 |archive-date=20 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He left no children.
His eldest brother Oliver inherited the Barony and became Earl of Bolingbroke.
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|en}} {{s-bef | before= Thomas Hawes | before2 = Sir Christopher Hatton }} {{s-ttl | title=Member of Parliament for Bedford | with= Richard Taylor 1621–1624 | years=1614–1624 }} {{s-aft | after= Richard Taylor | after2 = Sir Beauchamp St John }} {{s-bef | before= Pentecost Dodderidge | before2= John Delbridge }} {{s-ttl | title=Member of Parliament for Barnstaple | with= John Delbridge | years=1626–1629 }} {{s-non| reason= Parliament suspended until 1640}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John, Alexander}} Category:Year of birth missing Category:People from the Borough of Bedford Category:Place of birth missing Alexander Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Category:English MPs 1614 Category:English MPs 1621–1622 Category:English MPs 1626 Category:English MPs 1628–1629 Category:1657 deaths Category:Younger sons of barons Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Barnstaple