2«d s. NO 46„ Nov. 15. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



381 



LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1856. 



THE CROMWELLS AND OLIVER ST. JOHN. 



In " N. & Q." (I'* S. vii. p. 520.), Mr. Cross- 

 let drew the attention of your readers to the 

 defence of Chief-Justice St. John, privately 

 printed for circulation among the Members of 

 the House of Commons in June, 1660, to induce 

 them to remove his name from the list of those 

 persons in the act of indemnity who were to 

 remain subject to such pains and 'penalties, not 

 extending to life, as might be determined in a 

 future bill. On June 27, St. John tendered a 

 petition to the House to alter their decision of 

 June 13 against him. The House refused to re- 

 ceive the petition ; and the result was the distri- 

 bution of the pamphlet, a copy of which I have 

 recently presented to the British Museum ; it was 

 known to Godwin, and contains the strongest and 

 best statement of St. John's conduct, and of the 

 coolness between him and Cromwell after the 

 adoption of the Instrument of Government. 



The connection of St. John with the Cromwell 

 family commenced at an earlier period than is 

 generally supposed ; and through the kindness of 

 Mr. Staines Brocket Brocket, I am able to send you 

 extracts from the register of High Laver, Essex, 

 which will give information not heretofore known. 



Oliver St. John was three times married. His 

 first wife, Jolianna, was great-grand-daughter of 

 Sir Henry Cromwell of Hinchinbrooke. (Joane, 

 daughter of Sir Henry, married Sir Francis Bar- 

 rington : their daughter Elizabeth married Sir 

 James Altham, whose sole child was St. John's 

 first wife.) Tlie date of the marriage I cannot 

 discover, but the first child's baptism thus appears : 



" Joan S« John, daughter of Oliver S* John, Esquier, 

 and Joan hys wife, baptized thee 27* day of Januarie, 

 • Anno Domini 1630." 



This daughter was subsequently married to Sir 

 Walter St. John of Battersea ; is highly praised by 

 Simon Patrick, her chaplain (afterwards Bishop 

 of Chichester, and then of Ely), in his Aiitohio- 

 graphy, and in his dedication o£ Hearfs Ease; and 

 was grandmother of Lord Bolingbroke. 



St. John, therefore, was already allied to Hamp- 

 den when, in Nov. 1629, with the Duke of Bed- 

 ford, Cotton, Selden, and James, he was prose- 

 cuted in the Star Chamber. 



This first wife died after the birth of their 

 fourth child, William, in 1637. Her mother had 

 taken for her second husband Sir William Ma- 

 sham of Otes, in High Laver ; and to show that 

 St. John's second marriage met with the approval 

 of his first wife's relatives, it took place at their 

 parish church ; the entry being — 



" Mr. Oliver Seniohn and Elizabeth Cromwell marled, 

 Jan. 21, 1638." 



She was daughter and co-heiress of Henry 

 Cromwell of Upwood ; and to this Mrs. St. John, 

 whilst staying with the Mashams at Otes, Oliver' 

 Cromwell addressed the letter dated October 13, 

 1638, printed by Thurloe (vol. i. p. 1.), and by 

 Carlyle (vol. i. p. 141.). She had one son, Oliver, 

 and one daughter, Elizabeth, married to Sir John 

 Barnard of Brampton. 



Of St. John's third wife, all that has been stated is, 

 that she was widow of " one Cockcroft, a merchant 

 of London ;" and it has been implied, that money 

 was the Chief- Justice's attraction. She was, how- 

 ever, a lady of eminence among the Puritan party. 

 She was Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Oxenbridge/ 

 of Christ's Church, Oxford, M.D., of Daventry, 

 and then of London, by his wife Elizabeth Harby 

 (maternally descended from the Throgmortons, 

 and so from Edw. IH.) ; and her grandfather was 

 John Oxenbridge, B.D. of Southam, and next of 

 Coventry, "the preacher" who subscribed the 

 Book of Discipline, and with Paget was one of 

 the main causes of the disturbances in Warwick- 

 shire in June, 1576 (Strype's Grindal, vol. ii. c. 7. 

 p. 320. ; Brook's Puritans, vol. iii. p. 510. ; Neale, 

 vol. i. p. 387.). She was, therefore, sister of the 

 celebrated Nonconformist Fellow of Eton, John 

 Oxenbridge, of whom Cotton Mather (book iii. p. 

 221.) speaks as dying whilst in the pastoral charge 

 of the first church in Boston, Mass. ; and also of 

 Clement Oxenbridge, who was, in 1652, a com- 

 missioner for relief upon articles of war ; and of 

 Katherine, the wife of the Parliamentary General, 

 Philip Skippon. Her first husband, Caleb Cock- 

 croft, was buried at St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, 

 March 7, 1645 ; and after St. John's death, Dec. 

 31, 1673, she also was married a third time; her 

 last husband being Sir Humphrey Sydenham of 

 Chilworthy, near Ilminster : there she died, March 

 1, 1679-80, and was buried at Combe St. Nicho- 

 las, without having had any child. 



Justice has not been done to Chief- Justice St. 

 John by any biographer. I could produce strong 

 evidence to disprove the assertion that he died 

 "disgracefully rich;" but I will not anticipate 

 Mr. Foss's Life, in his Judges. 



And now for my Query : — Oliver St. John, the 

 son by Elizabeth Cromwell, married Elizabeth 

 Harvey, and was living at Tonrogee in Ireland 

 in 1681 : did he leave any descendants ? and if 

 so, are any now alive, and where ? 



Wm. Durrani CoorEH. 

 81. Guilford Street, Russell Square. 



SANGAREE, ORIGIN OF THE NAME. 



No satisfactory derivation of the word San- 

 garee (the refreshing cup of wine mixed with 

 lime juice and spices, much resorted to in tropical 

 lands,) has, I believe, yet been given. I suspect 



