Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet (circa May 1650 – 11 December 1718) was a British soldier and politician.

Of Dutch descent, Germain was thought to be an illegitimate half-brother of William III of England

William III of England

William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...

. He was created a Baronet

Baronet

A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...

, of Westminster

Westminster

Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...

, in the Baronetage of England on 25 March 1698. His affair with Mary, wife of the seventh Duke of Norfolk

Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk

Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, KG, PC, Earl Marshal was a politician and soldier. He was the son of Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk and Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester and Elizabeth Dormer.He married Mary Mordaunt, the only daughter and heiress of...

 led to the breakdown of that marriage. The Duchess, who succeeded to the estate of Drayton

Drayton, Northamptonshire

Drayton is a hamlet in England, in the county of Northamptonshire, in the parish and union of Daventry, hundred of Fawsley, ¾ of a mile on the low-lying western side of the town of Daventry.-History:...

 and as Baroness Mordaunt

Baron Mordaunt

The title Baron Mordaunt was created in 1529 for Sir John Mordaunt. The fifth baron was created Earl of Peterborough in 1628 and the title then passed to his son, the second earl, in 1644. On his death in 1697, the earldom was inherited by the his nephew, Charles and the barony was inherited by his...

 on her father

Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough

Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough, KG, PC, FRS was an English soldier, peer and courtier.-Early life:Styled Lord Mordaunt from 1628, he was the eldest son of John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough...

's death, later married Germain as his first wife. On her death in 1705 he inherited Drayton.

On 8 September 1713, during the general election of that year

British general election, 1713

The British general election, 1713 produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 Robert Harley had lead a government appointed after the downfall of the Whig junto, attempting to pursue a moderate and non-controversial policy, but had increasingly struggled to deal with the...

, he was elected Member of Parliament for Morpeth

Morpeth (UK Parliament constituency)

Morpeth was a borough constituency centred on the town of Morpeth in Northumberland represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of England until 1707, the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and then the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

, serving until the next general election in 1715

British general election, 1715

The British general election of 1715 returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 5th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707...

. He was then elected for Totnes

Totnes (UK Parliament constituency)

Totnes is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament , using the first-past-the-post voting system....

 in a by-election on 22 April 1717, following the death of Arthur Champernowne. He sat for this seat until his death the following year at the age of sixty-eight, when his baronetcy became extinct.

Germain's second wife, Lady Elizabeth ("Betty") Berkeley

Elizabeth Germain

Lady Elizabeth "Betty" Germain was a wealthy English aristocrat and courtier, a philanthropist and collector of antiquities, who corresponded with literary and political figures.-Life:...

, survived him until 1769. She left the Drayton estate

Drayton House

-History: Aubrey de Vere I give distinguished service at the Battle of Hastings, and was awarded land near Northampton to build a manor house. In the early thirteenth century, Sir Walter de Vere dropped the “de Vere” family name, and assume the surname “Drayton”....

 to Lord George Sackville, who adopted the surname Germain. There are memorials to Sir John Germain, his two wives and his three children (who died young) in St Peter's Church, Lowick

St Peter's Church, Lowick

St. Peter's Church, Lowick, is a parish church in the Church of England in Lowick, Northamptonshire, England.-Description and history:Although the church has early fourteenth century origins, it is mainly late fourteenth and early fifteenth century, being built for the Greene family of Drayton House...

, Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

.