Spenser St. John

Sir Spenser Buckingham St. John (22 December 1825 – 3 January 1910) was British Consul in Brunei in the mid 19th century.

Early life

On 20 September 1827, Spenser was baptised at St Pancras Old Church.

Diplomatic career

In 1847 St John's father, the journalist James Augustus St. John, introduced him to James Brooke. He went out to Sarawak the following year to become Brooke's private secretary and thus began his diplomatic career. He was British Consul General in Brunei from 1856 and in 1858 made two ascents of Mount Kinabalu with Hugh Low. One of the peaks of Mount Kinabalu, "St John's Peak" (4,091 m – 4 metres shorter than the summit, "Low's Peak"), is named in his honour. He wrote a book about his explorations in Borneo, Life in the Forests of the Far East (1862), and two biographies of James Brooke (1879 and 1899).

In 1863 St John became British chargé d'affaires in Haiti and in 1871 took up the same post in the Dominican Republic. He was promoted to Minister in Haiti late in 1872, and was chargé d'affaires in Lima and Minister in Peru from 1874 to 1883; he was awarded the KCMG in 1881. While in Peru he made a collection of pottery which is now in the British Museum.

In 1884 St John published a memoir of his experiences in Haiti, Hayti: Or, The Black Republic, which caused public outrage with its sensational tales of cannibalism in the Vodou religion. He is also quoted as saying that "The History of the country [Haiti]... is but a series of plots and revolutions followed by barbarous military executions."