Son of the 1st Viscount St John and his wife, Anne, of Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire. Educated at Eton, he succeeded his uncle to the Bolingbroke titles in 1751. He travelled to Italy in 1753 and his portrait was painted by Batoni in Rome, probably that year (Private Collection). In 1754 he was recorded along with Wilson and Lords Pembroke, Essex and Thanet at Tivoli: 'The Drawing [probably for P71 Distant View of Maecenas' Villa, Tivoli] was taken on the spot by Mr. Wilson in the year 1754 in Company with the Earls of Pembroke Thanet and Essex and Ld Viscount Bolingbroke; who dined and spent the Day together on the Spot, under a large Tree.' (Note by Francis Macklay, based on an account by Wilson, accompanying P71C, first published in Hastings 1825, Introduction, p. 10).
In later life Bolingbroke was well known for his extravagant and scandalous lifestyle, his racehorses, including the famous Gimcrack, and his patronage of George Stubbs. From 1781 he was declared insane.
See further, Ingamells 1997, p. 103.
