General Frederick St John (20 December 1765 – 19 November 1844) was an officer of the British Army and a politician. He rose to the rank of general during his career and saw service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the Second Anglo-Maratha War. He also sat briefly for the constituency of Oxford.
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Family and early life
Frederick St John was born the second son of Frederick St John, 2nd Viscount Bolingbroke and Lady Diana Beauclerk.
St John enlisted in the Army as an ensign in the 85th Regiment of Foot in 1779, at the age of 14. He served in the Indies and the Channel Islands until 1783. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1780, and then became a captain in the 95th Regiment of Foot in 1781. This was followed by a promotion to be major in the 104th Regiment of Foot in 1783.
In parallel to his military career, he socialised in exclusive gentlemen's clubs: he joined Brooks's on 17 May 1783, and the Whig Club on 6 March 1787. He continued to rise through the ranks, becoming a lieutenant-colonel in the 2nd Regiment of Foot in 1791, a colonel in 1795, and being promoted to major-general in 1798.