Alexander Temple

File:Longhouse.jpg

Temple was born at Stowe House, the fourth son of John Temple and Susan Spencer) and was baptised on 9 February 1582 OS.[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/temple-sir-alexander-1583-1629 History of Parliament] He was the brother of Sir Thomas Temple and the brother-in-law of Viscount Saye and Sele.

In 1602 he married Mary Penistone (née Sommer or Somers, a daughter of John Somers),R. H. D'Elboux, "Coats of Arms in Queenborough Castle", Archaeologia Cantiana, 58 (London, 1945), pp. 14–15. of Rochester Kent. They had three children:

• * John, killed at the Isle of Rhe;{{cite journal|journal=Journal of British Studies|first=Thomas|last=Cogswell|pages=370–389|title=The Human Comedy in Westminster|volume=52|issue=April, 2013|doi=10.1017/jbr.2013.52|s2cid=144598033}}
• * James Temple, the regicide;
• * Susan or Susanna Temple who is often said to have been maid of honour to Anne of Denmark, however, she is not known to be named in any records of the court.Elizabeth Askren, 'Susanna Temple Thornhurst Lister', in Carole Levin, Anna Riehl Bertolet, Jo Eldridge Carney, A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen (Routledge, 2017), pp. 101. 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. Her portrait was painted by Cornelius Johnson.J. Granger, A Biographical History of England, vol. 1 part 2 (London, 1769), p. 554.

As a result of this marriage, Temple gained four step children including Sir Thomas Penistone

Temple was knighted at the Tower of London by James I 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.{{cite book|first1=William Arthur |last1=Shaw |authorlink1=William Arthur Shaw |first2=George Dames |last2=Burtchaell |title=The Knights of England. A complete record from the earliest time to the present day of the knights of all the orders of chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of knights bachelors, incorporating a complete list of knights bachelors dubbed in Ireland |url=https://archive.org/details/knightsofengland02shaw_0 |publisher=Sherratt and Hughes |year=1906|page=[https://archive.org/details/knightsofengland02shaw_0/page/130 130]|isbn=0-8063-0443-X}}

Following the death of his first wife, Sir Alexander moved to Chadwell St Mary in Essex where he established a deer park.{{cite book|title=Lost Gardens of Thurrock|chapter=Chadwell Park: An Early Modern Deer Park|pages =1–14|isbn=9780956519818 }}

In the early 1620s, he married Mary Bankworth (who was previously married to John Busbridge), and moved to Haremere Hall in Etchingham, Sussex.{{cite web|url=http://www.thurrock-history.org.uk/regicides2.html|title=Two Thurrock Regicides|access-date=5 August 2009|publisher=Thurrock Local History Society|first=John |last=Matthews}}

Temple died in 1629 and was buried in Rochester Cathedral.

Temple was probably admitted to New College, Oxford in 1599.[https://www.new.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2019-07/11NCN4%20%282019%29%20Matthews%20on%20Temple.pdf Education of an Elizabethan Gentleman, John Matthews] He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in April 1600.{{cite book|title=Lincoln's Inn Admission Register|volume=1|date=1896|publisher=Lincoln's Inn}}

Temple became a Sussex JP in 1622.{{cite book|title=Calendar of Assize records, Sussex Indictments, James I|page=105|publisher = HMSO}}

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.{{cite book|title=Traffic and Politics: Construction and Management of Rochester Bridge|publisher=The Boydell Press|date=1994}}

Temple was nominated as MP for Boston 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.[https://archive.org/details/parliamentof16240000ruig/page/133 Robert E. Ruigh The Parliament of 1624: politics and foreign policy]{{Cite Notitia Parliamentaria|converted=1|part=2|pages=229–239}} 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. Temple made six recorded speeches during this parliament. He was also appointed to 39 committees.

{{s-start}}

{{s-par|en}}

{{succession box

| title=Member of Parliament for Sussex

| before= Sir Thomas Pelham, 2nd Baronet

| before2= Sir John Shurley

| with= Walter Covert

| years=1626

| after= Sir William Goring, 1st Baronet

| after2= Richard Lewknor

}}

{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Temple, Alexander}}

Category:People from Chadwell St Mary

Category:People from Etchingham

Category:1580s births

Category:1629 deaths

Category:English MPs 1626

Category:People from Rochester, Kent

Category:17th-century English Puritans

Category:Knights Bachelor