John Temple (1731 – 17 November 1798) was the first British consul-general to the United States and the first British diplomat to have been born in what later became the United States. He was sometimes known as (but not universally acknowledged to be) Sir John Temple, 8th Baronet.

Early life

John Temple was born in

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 1731. His father, Robert Temple (1694–1754), was a captain in the British army, and his mother was Mehitabel Nelson (1691–1775) of Boston.

Career

In 1762, he was appointed lieutenant governor of the

Province of New Hampshire The Province of New Hampshire was a colony of England and later a British province in North America. The name was first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America, and was nam ...

and surveyor general of customs. Temple was politically aligned with the populist faction in Massachusetts politics, and strongly opposed to the domination of colonial rule by Thomas Hutchinson and the Oliver family. Temple may have played a role in the Hutchinson Letters Affair of 1773 that inflamed political tensions in Massachusetts and led to the recall of Hutchinson, who was then governor of the province. In 1785, he was appointed consul-general to the United States, and remained in this post in New York City until his death (succeeded by

Thomas Henry Barclay Thomas Henry Barclay (October 12, 1753 – April 21, 1830) was an American lawyer who became one of the United Empire Loyalists in Nova Scotia and served in the colony's government. Early life Thomas Henry Barclay came from a prominent New York f ...

Peerage

Following the death of

Sir Richard Temple, 7th Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

in 1786, John Temple claimed the Temple Baronetcy of Stowe on the basis of a declaration by

George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

, but his claim is disputed. It is not recognised, for instance, by '' Cracroft's Peerage'', which considers the baronetcy to be dormant. However, his claim seems to have been generally recognised during his lifetime and his son's, for example by ''

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Br ...

''. His eldest son Grenville succeeded to his claim to the baronetcy.

Personal life

In 1767, he married Elizabeth Bowdoin (1750–1809), daughter of

James Bowdoin James Bowdoin II (; August 7, 1726 – November 6, 1790) was an American political and intellectual leader from Boston, Massachusetts, during the American Revolution and the following decade. He initially gained fame and influence as a wealthy ...

, who later became

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachusetts ...

. Together, they were the parents of: * Sir Grenville Temple, 9th Baronet (1768–1829), who married Elizabeth Watson. After his death, he was buried in the

English Cemetery, Florence The English Cemetery in Florence, Italy (Italian, ''Cimitero degli inglesi'', ''Cimitero Porta a' Pinti'' and ''Cimitero Protestante'') is an Evangelical cemetery located at Piazzale Donatello. Although its origins date to its foundation in 1827 ...

. * Elizabeth Bowdoin Temple (1769–1825), who married Thomas Lindall Winthrop (1760–1841), who later became the 13th

Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts The lieutenant governor of Massachusetts is the first in the line to discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor following the incapacitation of the Governor of Massachusetts. The constitutional honorific title for the office is His ...

. * Augusta Grenville Temple (1779–1852), who married William Lambe Palmer of England, a

British army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

captain with the

18th Light Dragoons The 18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first formed in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, including the First World War before being amalgamated with the 13th Hussars to form the 13th/18th Royal H ...

. Temple died 17 November 1798.

Descendants

Through his eldest son Sir Grenville Temple, he was the grandfather of Sir Grenville Temple, the 10th Baronet (1799–1847), who published "Travels in Greece and Turkey and the Mediterranean", in 1843. He is also, through his daughter Elizabeth Bowdoin Temple an ancestor of US Politician

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Temple, John British diplomats 1731 births 1798 deaths