Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Viscount. An English statesman. Born in Battersea in 1678. Having studied at Oxford, he entered parliament in 1701, and in 1704 became secretary of war. He afterwards became secretary of state for foreign affairs, and negotiated the Treaty of Utrecht. In 1712 he was raised to the peerage. On the accession of George I, he was impeached of high treason when he fled the country, and became secretary of state to the first pretender. He was attainted, and his estate seized; but in 1723 he was permitted to return. His estates were restored, but he was not allowed to sit in parliament. He wrote against the ministry, and his productions were admired for their eloquence and vigor. He again withdrew to France in 1735, but returned to England on the death of his father, and died in 1751.

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