[Gilbert's Hist. of Dublin; Whitelaw and Walsh's Hist. of Dublin; Dublin directories, 1770–82; Pasquin's Artists of Ireland. Redgrave erroneously gives his name as Temple.]
SEMPLE alias SEMPLE-LISLE, JAMES GEORGE (fl. 1799), adventurer, who also passed under the names Maxwell, Harrod, and Grant, was born at Irvine in 1759, and was the son of James Semple, formerly an exciseman, who eventually laid claim to the extinct title of Viscount Lisle. In 1776 he was serving in America, where he was taken prisoner, but was released in 1777, and returned to England. He then became acquainted with Mrs. Eliza Gooch the novelist. Marrying a goddaughter of the notorious Duchess of Kingston [see Chudleigh, Elizabeth], he accompanied the latter to the continent. There he claims to have accompanied Frederick the Great during his bloodless campaign of 1778, to have been introduced to the Empress Catharine of Russia, to have accompanied Prince Potemkin to the Crimea, and to have designed a uniform for the Russian army. He also visited Copenhagen. Returning to England in 1784, he was arrested for obtaining goods by false pretences, and on 2 Sept. 1786 was sentenced to seven years' transportation. Released on condition of quitting England, he repaired to Paris, where he represents himself as serving on General Berruyer's staff, and as witnessing in that capacity the execution of Louis XVI. Returning to England in time to avoid arrest, he was again, on 18 Feb. 1795, sentenced to transportation for defrauding tradesmen. Disappointed in his hopes of pardon, he stabbed himself in Newgate in 1796, when about to be shipped for Botany Bay, and tried to starve himself to death. He recovered, however, and in 1798 was despatched in the Lady Jane Shore transport, bound for Australia. During the voyage a mutiny broke out, Semple's warning of the plot having been disregarded by the captain, Wilcox. Semple, with several others, was allowed to put off in a boat, landed in South America, and, after many adventures, reached Tangier, where he surrendered, and was sent back to England. He was committed to Tothill Fields prison, and at the time of publishing his autobiography in 1799 was still confined there. Nothing further is known of him. A portrait engraved by Barlow is mentioned by Bromley.
[Life, 1799; Mem. of the Northern Impostor, 1786; Life of Mrs. E. S. Gooch, 1792; Ann. Register, 1796, App. p. 46, and 1798, App. p. 60; Gent. Mag. 1796.]
SEMPLE, ROBERT (1766–1816), traveller, and governor under the Hudson's Bay Company, son of British parents, who were made prisoners during the American war of independence, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1766. Brought up to mercantile pursuits, he was associated with London firms, and travelled constantly in the course of business, recording his impressions and adventures in short plain narratives which were favourably received. He was in Cape Colony in 1802, and made a stay of some duration, journeying inland a short distance. In 1803 he was back in London, and on 26 June 1805 left for a journey through Spain and Italy to Naples, and thence to Smyrna and Constantinople. In 1808 and 1809 he made a second journey in Portugal and Spain, eventually going to Gibraltar and Tangier. In 1810 he travelled in the West Indies and Brazil, and was in Caracas, Venezuela, at the beginning of the rebellion against Spain. In 1813 he made an adventurous journey in the rear of the allied armies from Hamburg by Berlin to Gothenburg; he was on this occasion taken for an American spy by Lord Cathcart and placed under arrest.
In 1815 Semple was chosen by the influence of Lord Selkirk to be chief agent or governor of the Hudson's Bay Company's factories and territories. Leaving England in June, he arrived at Red River in September, and energetically moved from place to place inspecting the settlements. In the spring of 1816 he was back at Red River. There had long been a feud between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North-West Company. On 19 June 1816 a caravan belonging to the latter company was passing near the fort at Red River with the intention of occupying ground to which their right was disputed. Semple rode out with an escort to meet them. A fracas ensued in which shots were exchanged, and Semple was mortally wounded, dying soon after he was carried into the fort. A literature of recrimination between the two companies was the chief result of the affair.
Semple was admitted even by his opponents to have been just and honourable in his short administration. He had a taste for literature and science. His chief writings are:
- ‘Walks and Sketches at the Cape of Good Hope, &c.’ London, 1803.
- ‘Observations on a Journey through Spain and Italy to Naples, &c. in 1805,’ London, 1807, 2 vols. 8vo.
- ‘A Second Journey in Spain in the Spring of 1809, &c.’ London, 1810 (2nd edition, 1812).
- ‘Sketch of the Present State of Caracas,’ London, 1812.
