Temple was a prominent figure in the lower house in William's reign. In 1691 he was the foremost to assure the king of the resolution of the commons to support him in the war with France, and in the following year he opposed the triennial bill; his speech is preserved among the manuscripts of the Earl of Egmont (Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. pp. 204–5, 207, 245). He died in 1697, and was buried at Stowe on 15 May.
By his wife Mary, daughter of Henry Knapp of Rawlins, Oxfordshire, he had four sons: Richard [see Temple, Sir Richard, Viscount Cobham], Purbeck, Henry, and Arthur, who all died without issue. By her he had also six daughters, of whom Hester married Richard Grenville of Wootton, Buckinghamshire, ancestor of the dukes of Buckingham and Chandos. She was created Countess Temple in her own right on 18 Oct. 1749, and died at Bath on 6 Oct. 1752.
Temple was the author of:
- ‘An Essay on Taxes,’ London, 1693, 4to, in which he opposed the land tax, and also the project of an excise on home commodities.
- ‘Some short Remarks upon Mr. Lock's Book, in answer to Mr. Launds [i.e. William Lowndes [q. v.] ], and several other books and pamphlets concerning Coin,’ London, 1696, 4to, in which he attacked the new coinage. The latter pamphlet called forth an anonymous answer entitled ‘Decus and Tutamen; or our New Money as now coined, in Full Weight and Fineness, proved to be for the Honour, Safety, and Advantage of England,’ London, 1696, 8vo.
A folio volume containing collections from Temple's parliamentary papers, and another in his handwriting containing ‘An Answer to a Book entitled the Case Stated of the Jurisdiction of the House of Lords on the Point of Impositions,’ were formerly among the Earl of Ashburnham's manuscripts, and are now in the Stowe collection in the British Museum.
[Gibbs's Worthies of Buckinghamshire, p. 377; Collins's Peerage of England, ed. Brydges, ii. 413; Prime's Account of the Temple Family, New York, 3rd ed. 1896; Clarendon's Life, 1857, ii. 321; Stowe MSS.; Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 28054, f. 186; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1689–90, pp. 53, 514, 516.]
TEMPLE, Sir RICHARD, Viscount Cobham (1669?–1749), born about 1669, was the eldest son of Sir Richard Temple (1634–1697) [q. v.], by his wife Mary, daughter of Henry Knapp of Rawlins, Oxfordshire. He received an ensigncy in Prince George's regiment of foot on 30 June 1685, and was appointed adjutant on 12 April 1687. On 11 July 1689 he obtained a captaincy in Babington's regiment of foot. On 31 Oct. 1694, at the age, according to the college register, of 18, he was admitted fellow-commoner of Christ's College, Cambridge. He took no degree. In May 1697 he succeeded his father in the baronetcy and family estates, and on 17 Dec. he was returned to parliament for the town of Buckingham, his father's constituency, and retained it throughout William's reign. At the time of the general election for Anne's first parliament he was absent from the kingdom, and later was defeated in his candidature for Aylesbury, but was elected for the county on 8 Nov. 1704 by a majority of two votes. He sat for Buckinghamshire in the parliament of 1705, and for the town of Buckingham in those of 1708 and 1710.
On 10 Feb. 1701–2 he was appointed colonel of one of the new regiments raised for the war with France, and was stationed in Ireland (ib. v. 140, 201, 214). He was afterwards transferred to the Netherlands, and served under Marlborough throughout his campaigns. He particularly distinguished himself at the siege of Lille in 1708, and was rewarded by being despatched to Lord Sunderland with the news of the capitulation (Marlborough Despatches, ed. Murray, 1845, i. 224, 542, ii. 530, iv. 274). On 1 Jan. 1705–6 he attained the rank of brigadier-general; on 1 Jan. 1708–9 he was promoted to that of major-general; he was created lieutenant-general on 1 Jan. 1709–10, and in the same year he received the colonelcy of the 4th dragoons (Luttrell, vi. 548, 686). Sir Richard's military career was interrupted by his political principles. Like his father, he was a staunch whig, and in consequence he was not included in the list of officers nominated to serve in Flanders under the Duke of Ormonde. In 1713 his regiment was given to Lieutenant-general William Evans.
On the accession of George I Temple was at once taken into favour. On 19 Oct. 1714 he was created Baron Cobham of Cobham in Kent, being descended through his grandmother, Christian Leveson, from William Brooke, tenth lord Cobham (1527–1597). He was sent as envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the emperor Charles VI to announce the accession of the new king. After his return he was made colonel of the 1st dragoons in June 1715, and on 6 July 1716 he was appointed a privy councillor. In the same year he became constable of Windsor Castle, and on 23 May 1718 was created Viscount Cobham. On 21 Sept. 1719 he sailed from Spithead in command of an expedition which was originally destined to
