Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751), British statesman. Henry St. John, 1^st Viscount Bolingbroke, was born in Battersea, now in the Wandsworth borough of London, and educated at Eton. He became a member of the House of Commons in 1701, joining the Tories in opposition to the War of the Spanish Succession, and gained immediate distinction by his eloquence. From 1704 to 1708 he was secretary for war, and in 1710 he became secretary of state, sharing the leadership of the party with Robert Harley, earl of Oxford. Bolingbroke was created a viscount and called to the House of Lords in 1712. The following year he negotiated the Peace of Utrecht, ending the War of the Spanish Succession. After plotting successfully for Harley's downfall in 1714, he began to intrigue for the succession of James Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender, but his plans were forestalled by the sudden death of Queen Anne. When George I ascended the throne, Bolingbroke fled to France. He was impeached by Parliament in 1715 and his name removed from the roll of peers. While in France, he acted as secretary of state to the Old Pretender.

George I allowed Bolingbroke to return to England in 1723 and restored his property in 1725. He became associated with such literary figures as Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift, and he attacked Prime Minister Robert Walpole in a series of letters, collected and published as A Dissertation on Parties (1735). His last years were spent at Battersea, where he wrote The Idea of a Patriot King (1749) and Reflection on Exile (1752).