Sir Alexander Temple (bapt. 9 February 1582 OS (1583 NS) – 1629) was an English landowner and Member of Parliament. He was born at
Stowe House in 1583 and knighted in 1603. During his life he held many public offices, including Justice of the Peace and MP for Sussex. He was buried in
Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an English church of Norman architecture in Rochester, Kent.
The church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rochester in the Church of England and the s ...
.
Family
Temple was born at
Stowe House, the fourth son of John Temple and Susan Spencer) and was baptised on 9 February 1582 OS.
[History of Parliament]
/ref> He was the brother of Sir Thomas Temple and the brother-in-law of Viscount Saye and Sele
Viscount Saye and Sele was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created on 7 July 1624 for William Fiennes, 8th Baron Saye and Sele and became extinct on the death of Richard Fiennes 6th Viscount on 29 July 1781.
Succession
Under James I of ...
.
In 1602 he married Mary Penistone (née Sommer) of Rochester Kent. They had three children:
* * John, killed at the Isle of Rhe;
* * James Temple
James Temple (1606–1680) was a puritan and English Civil War soldier who was convicted of the regicide of Charles I. Born in Rochester, Kent, to a well-connected gentry family, he was the second of two sons of Sir Alexander Temple, although ...
, the regicide;
* * Susan or Susanna Temple who is often said to have been maid of honour to Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...
, however, she is not known to be named in any records of the court. She married (1) Sir Gifford Thornhurst of Agney Court, Kent, and (2) Sir Martin Lister. Through her first marriage, Susan was grandmother of Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough
Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, Princess of Mindelheim, Countess of Nellenburg (née Jenyns, spelt Jennings in most modern references; 5 June 1660 (Old Style) – 18 October 1744), was an English courtier who rose to be one of th ...
. Her portrait was painted by Cornelius Johnson.
As a result of this marriage, Temple gained four step children including Sir Thomas Penistone
Temple was knighted at the Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
by James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
following the King's accession to the English throne – one of many members of the gentry who were knighted during the first years of the King's reign.
Following the death of his first wife, Sir Alexander moved to Chadwell St Mary
Chadwell St Mary is an area of the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England. It is one of the traditional (Church of England) parishes in Thurrock and a former civil parish. Its residential areas are on the higher ground overlooking the ...
in Essex where he established a deer park.
In the early 1620s, he married Mary Bankworth (who was previously married to John Busbridge), and moved to Haremere Hall in Etchingham, Sussex.
Temple died in 1629 and was buried in Rochester Cathedral.
Education
Temple was probably admitted to New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...
in 1599. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
in April 1600.
Public Offices
Temple became a Sussex JP in 1622.
In 1604, Temple was elected as an assistant warden of the Rochester Bridge Trust. He continued to serve on the court in various roles for the following eleven years. Temple was chosen as the senior warden in 1606 and the junior warden in 1612.
Temple was nominated as MP for Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in 1621, but lost out to Sir Thomas Cheeke.[
In 1624, Temple tried to take the Winchelsea parliamentary seat from the control of the Finch family and succeeded in having John Finch's return invalidated. However Temple was defeated in the subsequent by-election. Robert E. Ruigh ''The Parliament of 1624: politics and foreign policy'']
/ref>[ Some sources attribute the 1624 Winchelsea seat to John Finch recorder of Canterbury and later Speaker]
In 1626, Temple was elected to the 2nd Parliament of King Charles I as MP for Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
. Temple made six recorded speeches during this parliament. He was also appointed to 39 committees.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Temple, Alexander
People from Chadwell St Mary
People from Etchingham
1583 births
1629 deaths
Burials in Kent
English MPs 1626
People from Rochester, Kent
17th-century English Puritans
Knights Bachelor