TEMPLE, Thomas (1614-74), of Stanton Bury, Bucks.

Thomas Temple’s father was a younger son of Sir Thomas Temple of Stowe, and was thus related to a number of influential figures, including William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele. Temple’s early career is, however, obscure. He succeeded to the family estate in 1632, at the age of 18.8CB. In July 1642 he was commissioned to command a troop of horse in the parliamentarian army under the earl of Essex, serving at least until the summer of 1643, and probably until the army was disbanded in the spring of 1645.9SP28/1A/11, 49; SP28/2A/218, 306; SP28/3A/232, 404; SP28/4/166, 172; SP28/5/198; SP28/7/107; Peacock, Army Lists, 56. At some point between mid-March and early June 1647 he was elected as recruiter MP for the Cornish borough of Mitchell, presumably on the Presbyterian interest, and was secluded at Pride’s Purge in December 1648, having made no impact on the Commons.10Supra, ‘Mitchell’; A List of the Imprisoned and Secluded Members (1648, 669.f.13.62); A Vindication (1649), 28 (irregular pagination) (E.539.5).

In later years, he claimed to have been a loyal royalist during the later 1640s and early 1650s, stating that he had been debarred ‘from all employment or preferment’ as a result; he also claimed a close personal connection with Charles I, saying that ‘Mr Kirke, a gentleman of the late king’s bedchamber’ had ‘told me about six weeks after his majesty’s death that one of his last commands he whispered to him on the scaffold was to charge this king [i.e. Charles II] to have a care of honest Tom Temple’.11CO1/14, f. 186. Although the story is fanciful, it is supported by another account of the last-minute attempts by parliamentarians to secure a deal with the king. In the autumn of 1648, Viscount Saye attended Charles I at Carisbrooke, where he was considered ‘the most inward with the king’ of all the commissioners, and during their discussions, ‘one Thomas Temple, his kinsman, had there upon an instance a promise to be made groom of the bedchamber to the king’.12HMC Portland, i. 593.

Whatever reputation Temple may have had for disaffection to the commonwealth, it did not persist until 1656, when he was clearly held in esteem by Oliver Cromwell*, who granted him control of the territory of Nova Scotia or Acadie, wrested from the French by Major-general Robert Sedgwicke in 1654. Under an agreement signed on 14 July 1656, Temple and two partners were granted ‘all and singular those lands in America … the county and territories called L’Acadie and that part of the country called Nova Scotia’ lying between the French territories and New England, with the sole right to the lucrative fur trade and any other gains to be made from the region.13CO1/13, ff. 9-10. On 9 August this agreement was ratified by the protector and council, and on 17 September Temple was appointed as governor of Nova Scotia.14CO1/13, ff. 33-6; Abbott, Writings and Speeches, iv. 228, 286-9. At this time the political situation in Nova Scotia was highly unstable, with the English presence being confined to a string of forts, and part of the deal was that Temple would pay for the arrears due to these garrisons, and cover all future expenses ‘without putting the commonwealth in any charge at all’.15CO1/13, ff. 12v-13. When Temple sailed for the New World in the autumn of 1657, he established himself at Boston in New England, a territory which lay immediately to the south of Nova Scotia.16CSP Dom. 1657-8, p. 460.

Within a few months of Temple’s arrival the security problem had become acute. According to Temple, in May 1658 French merchants had seized one of the forts and stolen a quantity of furs, while the French ambassador reported that Temple had provoked trouble by banning all Frenchmen from ‘their traffic with the savages’ and had countermanded an order of the protector allowing the French to enjoy liberty of religion and trade.17CO1/13, ff.128, 130. By this time the sheer expense of setting up a profitable venture had also become apparent, and in September 1658 Temple signed an agreement with a consortium in England, headed by Viscount Saye’s son, the protectoral councillor Nathaniel Fiennes I*, and his colleague Sir Charles Wolseley*, who promised £800 a year.18CO1/13, ff. 109, 126. By December, Temple was full of schemes to ensure ‘a suitable profit’ for the investors, including exploiting the mining, fishing and timber riches of the territory, as well as the fur trade. He was already deeply in debt, however, mostly to New England merchants who had been more than willing to lend him money to set up trading stations and maintain the forts, and had then charged up to 50 per cent interest.19CO1/13, ff. 140-1, 142. Temple even contemplated surrendering his rights to an incorporated company in return for a salary of £500 a year and a share of the profits.20CO1/13, ff. 143, 156. Nothing had been agreed by May 1659, when the end of the protectorate removed the Fiennes family from political influence, but later in the year Temple had cut his expenses and was hopeful that his affairs would soon be in ‘a good posture’.21CO1/13, ff. 167-171v. He also had faith in a new patron, the Buckinghamshire lawyer and senior statesman Bulstrode Whitelocke*, and asked Fiennes in December 1659 if he might use his influence on him, ‘who by your lordship’s means might take my poor affairs into his protection’.22CO1/13, ff. 186-7.

On the Restoration Temple’s governorship was rendered invalid, and in July 1660 a groom of the bedchamber, Thomas Elliott, petitioned to be granted the office instead.23CO1/14, f. 44. Luckily for Temple, the matter was referred to the commissioners for plantations – a body that included Viscount Saye – and when it was discussed at the board on 30 July, Saye asserted that Temple ‘hath a good title’.24CO1/14, f. 60. Temple calculated in September that he could rely on Saye and William Seymour, marquess of Hertford, as well as James Butler, 1st duke of Ormond, and former Presbyterians like Sir Harbottle Grimston*, Sir William Lewis* and Denzil Holles*.25CO1/14, f. 102. There were other interests at work, however; and to Temple’s dismay, Thomas Elliott was appointed governor of Nova Scotia on 18 October 1660.26CO1/14, f. 109.

In the spring of 1662, the situation was much more favourable, and Temple tried to oust Elliott. One of those he called on was Whitelocke, who lobbied government officers on his behalf in the spring of 1662, ‘and had for his fee some salt fish brought out of that country’.27Whitelocke, Diary, 646. Temple’s campaign for reinstatement proved successful, and he was created a baronet of Nova Scotia on 7 July 1662, and three days later he was re-appointed as governor of the territory, with Elliott being promised substantial compensation.28CB; CSP Dom. 1661-2, p. 431. Temple, who was in Boston at the time, resumed his duties immediately, and helped to negotiate a charter for Connecticut in August 1662. Despite his continuing struggles with creditors, he seems to have been respected by the wider community in New England, and he worked closely with the Winthrops and other neighbours during the Anglo-French war of 1666-7.29Winthrop Pprs. iv (Collns. Mass. Hist. Soc. viii, Boston, 1882), 73, 75, 101. The end of the war was to prove Temple’s undoing, however, as in July 1667, when the Treaty of Breda was agreed, Nova Scotia was returned to France. Temple was promised £16,200 in compensation, but this was probably never paid.30CB. He was able to delay the surrender of his lands until 1670, but in that year he was forced to retire to Boston, where, faced with further financial difficulties, he sold off much of the land he had accrued over the previous years.31Oxford DNB. Temple returned to England in April 1673, and in September he agreed to accept £5,000 in lieu of ‘several great and considerable sums’ owed to him by the crown, a large proportion of which would then be passed on to Thomas Elliott.32Winthrop Pprs. iv. 393; Add. 35251, f. 41. It is unlikely that even this greatly reduced sum was paid before Temple died in March 1674. He never married. The family line continued through his brother, Colonel (later Sir) Purbeck Temple.33CB.