Sir Peter Temple, 2nd Baronet (15 October 1592 – 12 September 1653) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1640 to 1653. He was a Parliamentarian in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

Family

Temple was the son of

Sir Thomas Temple, 1st Baronet, of Stowe Sir Thomas Temple, 1st Baronet (9 January 1567 – 10 February 1637) was an English landowner and Member of Parliament. Early life Thomas Temple was the eldest son of John Temple and Susan (née Spencer). Although he is said to have been born ...

and his wife Hester Sandys, daughter of Miles Sandys.

Mark Noble Mark James Noble (born 8 May 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder and is well remembered for his time at English club West Ham United, spending eighteen years with the club. Apart from two sh ...

''The lives of the English regicides: Volume 2''"> ''The lives of the English regicides: Volume 2''
/ref> He inherited the baronetcy on his father's death in 1637. Temple married firstly Ann Throckmorton, daughter of Sir Arthur Throckmorton of Paulerspury, Northamptonshire. He had two daughters by his first wife; the elder, Anne, survived into old age while the younger, Martha, died as a toddler. He married secondly Christian Leveson daughter of Sir

John Leveson Sir John Leveson (21 March 1555 – 14 November 1615) was an English politician. He was instrumental in putting down the Essex rebellion of 8 February 1601. Family John Leveson, born 21 March 1555 at Whornes Place, Cuxton, Kent, was the eldest ...

and they had several children. the eldest, Frances, married the Earl of Londonderry. Sir Peter's eldest son Richard Temple succeeded to the baronetcy. Sir Peter had a longstanding quarrel with his daughter Anne, who married Thomas Roper, 2nd Roper Viscount Baltinglass, without her father's permission. Anne and her husband sued Sir Peter and his heir, Sir Richard, for her inheritance through her mother, Anne Throckmorton Temple.

Public offices

In 1634, he served as High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire and was consequently responsible for collecting the controversial

ship money Ship money was a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently in the Kingdom of England until the middle of the 17th century. Assessed typically on the inhabitants of coastal areas of England, it was one of several taxes that English monarchs co ...

in Buckinghamshire. In April 1640, Temple was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Buckingham in the Short Parliament. He was also elected for Buckingham in November 1640 to the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. He took the side of the Parliamentarians and fought for them in the Civil War. although his wife, Christian, was a Royalist sympathiser. He was nominated to serve as a judge on the court that tried Charles I, but never attended any sessions.

Relationship with father

Sir Peter was accused by his father of "wasting money in gambling, drinking, and other extravagances". He believed that his father favoured his younger brother, John, over him. In the 1620s, when his father was planning to sell some land in order to reduce his debts, Sir Peter, who was himself heavily in debt, went to the Court of Chancery to prevent the sale. Eventually, the legal case between father and son was settled in the 1630s by an arbitrator. Sir Thomas was allowed to sell the land, but he had to make a payment to Sir Peter. Peter's father and mother, Sir

Thomas Temple Sir Thomas Temple, 1st Baronet (January 1613/14 at Stowe, Buckinghamshire, England – 27 March 1674 at Ealing, Middlesex) was an English proprietor and governor of Acadia/Nova Scotia (1657–70). In 1662, he was created a Baronet of Nova Sc ...

and Lady Hester Temple, had already made an agreement with Peter in 1625, whereby they vacated the mansion at Stowe by Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, and left Sir Peter to housekeep there. Peter made considerable changes to the building. From 1637 to 1643 Temple lived at No. 2-3 Tavistock Row, Covent Garden.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Temple, Peter 1592 births 1653 deaths Roundheads English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1648–1653 Baronets in the Baronetage of England