cr. 19 Oct. 1714 Bar. COBHAM; cr. 23 May 1718 Visct. COBHAM
First sat 1 June 1715; last sat 3 May 1749
MP Buckingham, 17 Dec. 1697, 1698, 1701 (Jan.), 1701 (Nov.); Bucks. 8 Nov. 1704, 1705; Buckingham 1708, 1710.
b. 24 Oct. 1675, 1st s. of Sir Richard Temple‡, 3rd bt. educ. Christ’s, Camb. 1694. m. ?1715, Anne (d.1760), da. of Edmund Halsey‡, s.p. suc. fa. as 4th bt. 10 May 1697. d. 13 or 14 Sept. 1749; will 8 June 1748, pr. 13 Oct. 1749.1
Envoy extraordinary to Vienna Oct. 1714–May 1715; constable, Windsor Castle 1716–23; gov. of Jersey 1723–d.; PC 6 July 1716.
High steward, Buckingham 1697–d.; ld. lt. Bucks. 1728–38.
Col. of ft. 1702–10, 4 Hussars 1710–13, 1 R. Drags. 1715–21, 1 Drag. Gds. 1721–33, 1 tp. horse Grenadier Gds. 1742–?5, 5 Drag. Gds. 1744–5, 10 R. Hussars 1745–d.; brig.-gen. 1706, maj.-gen. 1709, lt.-gen. 1710, gen. 1735, field marshal 1742; comptroller clothing the army 1708, army accts. 1722.
Associated with: Stowe, Bucks.
Likenesses: oil on canvas by Sir G. Kneller, c.1710-13, NPG 3198.
The son and successor to a Tory baronet but himself a Whig and career soldier, Temple had lost his Buckingham seat in the Commons in 1713 and failed to regain it on petition on 3 Mar. 1714. Following the accession of George I he was created a peer as Baron Cobham, commemorating his descent through his maternal grandmother from William Brooke†, 10th Lord Cobham (d.1597), though he was not that family’s heir. He did not have an opportunity to sit before the 1715 Parliament, so his career as a peer will be discussed fully in the next phase of this work.
M.C.K.- 1 TNA, PROB 11/773.