James Augustus St. John (24 September 1795 – 22 September 1875) was a British journalist, writer, and traveller.
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Life in Wales
James was born in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, Wales, the son of Gelly John, a shoemaker. He went to the Laugharne charity school until his father died in 1802 after which he received instruction from a local clergyman, eventually mastering the classics, and acquiring proficiency in French, Italian, Spanish, Arabic and Persian. As James John, his baptismal name, he became involved in radical politics. He had to leave Laugharne to avoid arrest, after writing what the authorities deemed to be a seditious pamphlet.
Career in England
Under the name of Julian Augustus St John he went to London, where he obtained the post of deputy editor of Richard Carlile's radical newspaper The Republican. In 1819, shortly after the Peterloo Massacre, Carlile was imprisoned and St. John briefly took over his role as editor. That year, he married Eliza Hansard, and officially changed his name to James Augustus St. John to avoid recognition.