James Temple
Encyclopedia
James Temple 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 his elder brother died in 1627. As a child, Temple moved with his father from Rochester to Chadwell St Mary
in Essex and then to Etchingham
in Sussex, where he settled.
Temple gained military experience as a member of the Duke of Buckingham's
expedition to the Isle of Ré in 1627. As a puritan, he joined the Parliamentary
army at the outbreak of the Civil War and fought at the Battle of Edgehill
. He rose to become a colonel and commanded Tilbury Fort
, an important defensive position on the approach to London by river. He was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Bramber
in September 1645 to replace an ejected Royalist. He sided with the army in opposing any compromise with the King, and was appointed as a judge at the trial of King Charles I of England
. Temple attended most of the court sessions and was the 28th (of 59) to sign the King's death warrant. After the restoration
of Charles II, he was convicted of regicide, but avoided execution and was imprisoned on Jersey
, where he died.
Temple was born to Sir Alexander Temple and Mary Sommer while his parents were living in the parish of St. Margaret's in Rochester, Kent in the house previously owned by his mother's first husband. His family was closely related to the Temple family of Stowe House
. The family belonged to the gentry
, having a reasonable income, without being members of the aristocracy. His father had been 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.
Temple had an older brother (John) and a sister (Susan). As a result of his mother's first marriage, he had two step brothers (including Sir Thomas Peniston) and two step sisters. He was born into a well connected family. His uncles included Sir Thomas Temple, 1st Baronet, of Stowe
and William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele
. His sister, Susan Temple, Lady Lister, was the mother of Martin Lister
and the grandmother of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
.
In 1607, following his mother's death, he moved to Longhouse Place (now known as Chadwell Place) in Chadwell St Mary, Essex
. Both he and his older brother John, were admitted to Lincoln's Inn
in 1622. In the same year, Temple was given permission by the privy council to travel abroad for up to three years. He was allowed to take a servant with him, but he was strictly forbidden to visit Rome.
While Temple was living in Chadwell St Mary, a number of Temple family portraits were painted by Cornelius Johnson. These may have been part of a family commission. They include Temple's father (which hangs in Hagley Hall
) and his sister (which is in the Tate Gallery
). These family portraits may have included Temple himself, but no portrait is known to have survived.
In the early 1620s, as a result of his father's marriage to Mary Bankworth (who was previously married to John Busbridge), he moved again, this time to Haremere Hall in Etchingham, Sussex
. His father's third marriage gave him more step siblings, including his stepsister, Mary Busbridge to whom Temple was married in March 1627. Over the next few years, they had six children.
led an expedition to the island of Île de Ré
to support the Huguenots besieged in La Rochelle
by King Louis XIII of France
. With no standing army, Buckingham's forces were largely volunteers and mercenaries. Since public opinion in England (particularly among extreme Protestants) supported the Huguenots, a number of well connected gentry came forward. The volunteers to join Buckingham included Temple, his elder brother John and other members of his family. The expedition to the Isle of Ré
, was a disaster and altogether, Buckingham lost more than 5,000 men in the campaign out of a force of 7,000. Among those who died was Temple's brother.
(1629-1640), he was part of a network of Puritan
gentry in Sussex and in due course became a Sussex Justice of the Peace (JP)
.
Temple, like most members of his family was a puritan and supported Parliament against the King. His uncle Lord Saye and Sele
was one of the King's principal opponents. Temple's military experience became useful when the First English Civil War
broke out in August, 1642. He was appointed captain of a troop of horse raised by Lord Saye and Sele and commanded by Temple's cousin, John Fiennes
. Temple was related to Oliver Cromwell
via his kinsman Edward Whalley
and was able to secure a commission for Whalley in his uncle's unit. He saw action close to the Temple family home at Stowe where both Temple and Whalley fought at the Battle of Edgehill
in October 1642.
In March 1643, Temple had returned to Sussex, and along with his stepbrother, John Busbridge, he was appointed by Parliament to the Sussex committee set for the sequestration
(i.e. seizure and administration) of the assets of prominent Royalists. In December 1643, Temple was prominent in the defence of the crossing of the River Adur
at Bramber Castle
against a Royalist
attack during Lord Hopton
's attempt to obtain control of Sussex
for the King. His actions were described by Dr Cheynell:
As the war progressed, Temple was promoted to colonel and became governor of Tilbury Fort
in Essex
, a post that had previously been held by his father. The fort was close to Temple's childhood home at Longhouse Place and was of strategic importance because it controlled the approach to London by river. During the Second Civil War
, there were Royalist uprisings in Kent and Essex. Temple's control of Tilbury Fort for Parliament enabled Lord Fairfax
's troops to cross from Gravesend to Tilbury on route to Colchester for the siege of royalists in that town
.
In September 1645, Temple was elected Member of Parliament
(MP) for Bramber
to replace Sir Thomas Bowyer
, the royalist member who had been ejected. He belonged to the political and religious group known as Independents
who were opposed to any compromise in Parliament's negotiations with the King. As a result he was one of the MPs allowed to remain after Pride's Purge
- a military coup that excluded from Parliament roughly three quarters of the MPs, particularly those who were believed to be unsympathetic to the Army. In January 1649, the army and the Independents decided to bring Charles I
to trial. Temple was one of the judges named to the High Court of Justice
that conducted the trial. He attended nine sessions of the court in both the Painted Chamber
and Westminster Hall. He approved the guilty verdict and signed the King's death warrant
- the 28th of the 59 judges to so.
During the early part of the Commonwealth
period, he continued to serve on Parliamentary committees. However, he attracted accusations of corruption. In September 1650, these accusations led to him giving up his post at Tilbury Fort. It was probably around this time that he married his second wife, Joanna van Tromp.
Temple attracted a number of other accusations of financial impropriety, although apparently nothing was proved. In 1648, he was ordered by the House of Commons to respond to the legal action of one Elizabeth Willan who had attempted to serve him with two writs in connection with a bond for £400. He "threw them on the ground and spurned them with his foot". In 1649, Temple became the guardian of the daughter of one Mrs Eyre. He apparently "inveigled" her to marry his son, Alexander. As a result, Temple acquired the deeds to property in Ireland which he subsequently refused to return. A few years later, he was accused of improperly benefiting from administering the estate of a prominent Sussex catholic - Sir John Shelley - whose heir was a minor.
Following Temple's marriage, his father had invested in a farming venture by Edward Whalley who was the brother-in-law of Temple's stepsister - Mary Penistone. Sir Alexander apparently intended this to provide an inheritance for his grandchildren (the children of James Temple). As a younger son himself, Sir Alexander wanted to ensure suitable provision for his own younger son. This investment made by Temple's father for the benefit of his children had apparently become valueless when Edward Whalley fled to Scotland in the late 1630s. However, in the 1650s, Whalley had become a prominent and successful member of the Puritan establishment and there was a possibility of recovering some money. In the late 1650s, Temple and Whalley went to the Court of Chancery
to determine what was due to Temple and his children. However, with the death of Oliver Cromwell and the subsequent restoration of Charles II
, both regicides were faced with the possibility of execution and the case appears to have been unresolved.
Temple returned to Parliament with the recall of the Rump
and Long Parliament
s by General Monck, but following the Restoration
in 1660, he was excluded from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act
, because of his role in the trial and execution of Charles I. He was captured in Warwickshire
while trying to travel to Ireland
, under his first wife's maiden name of Busbridge. He was held in the Tower of London
before being tried as a regicide. He tried to avoid the death penalty by saying that he had only acted as a judge in Charles I's trial in order to give information to the Royalists. He went on to claim that he had tried to prevent the King's execution, begging Oliver Cromwell
to spare him. He did avoid execution and was sentenced to life imprisonment, initially in Mont Orgueil
, and subsequently in Elizabeth Castle
(both on Jersey
in the Channel Islands
) where he is reported to have died on 17 February 1680.
Winstanley described him as "not so much famous for his valour as his villainy, being remarkable for nothing but this horrible business of the king's murther, for which he came into the pack to have a share in the spoyle."
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
and English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
soldier who was convicted of the regicide of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. Born in Rochester, Kent, to a well-connected gentry family, he was the second of two sons of Sir Alexander Temple, although his elder brother died in 1627. As a child, Temple moved with his father from Rochester to Chadwell St Mary
Chadwell St Mary
Chadwell-St-Mary is a dispersed settlement in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England. It is one of the traditional parishes in Thurrock and former civil parish. It is a few miles east of the town of Grays and is located north of the modern town of Tilbury which was part of the parish...
in Essex and then to Etchingham
Etchingham
Etchingham is a village and civil parish in the Rother District in East Sussex, southern England. The village is approximately twelve miles north-west of Hastings, on the A265, half a mile west of its junction with the A21....
in Sussex, where he settled.
Temple gained military experience as a member of the Duke of Buckingham's
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...
expedition to the Isle of Ré in 1627. As a puritan, he joined the Parliamentary
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
army at the outbreak of the Civil War and fought at the Battle of Edgehill
Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642....
. He rose to become a colonel and commanded Tilbury Fort
Tilbury Fort
Tilbury Fort is on the north, Essex, bank of the River Thames in England and was built to defend London from attack from the sea, particularly during the Spanish Armada and the Anglo-Dutch Wars...
, an important defensive position on the approach to London by river. He was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Bramber
Bramber
Bramber is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is located on the northern edge of the South Downs and on the west side of the River Adur. Nearby are the communities of Steyning to the west and Upper Beeding to the east, and the other side of the river....
in September 1645 to replace an ejected Royalist. He sided with the army in opposing any compromise with the King, and was appointed as a judge at the trial of King Charles I of England
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
. Temple attended most of the court sessions and was the 28th (of 59) to sign the King's death warrant. After the restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
of Charles II, he was convicted of regicide, but avoided execution and was imprisoned on Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
, where he died.
Early life
Stowe House
Stowe House is a Grade I listed country house located in Stowe, Buckinghamshire, England. It is the home of Stowe School, an independent school. The gardens , a significant example of the English Landscape Garden style, along with part of the Park, passed into the ownership of The National Trust...
. The family belonged to the gentry
Gentry
Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
, having a reasonable income, without being members of the aristocracy. His father had been knighted at the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
by James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
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.
Temple had an older brother (John) and a sister (Susan). As a result of his mother's first marriage, he had two step brothers (including Sir Thomas Peniston) and two step sisters. He was born into a well connected family. His uncles included Sir Thomas Temple, 1st Baronet, of Stowe
Sir Thomas Temple, 1st Baronet, of Stowe
Sir Thomas Temple, 1st Baronet , was an English landowner and Member of Parliament.-Early life:Temple was born at Burton Dassett in Warwickshire, the eldest son of John Temple and Susan . As a child he moved with his father to Stowe House in Buckinghamshire...
and William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele
William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele
William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele was born at the family home of Broughton Castle near Banbury, in Oxfordshire. He was the only son of Richard Fiennes, seventh Baron Saye and Sele...
. His sister, Susan Temple, Lady Lister, was the mother of Martin Lister
Martin Lister
Martin Lister FRS was an English naturalist and physician.-Life:Lister was born at Radcliffe, near Buckingham, the son of Sir Martin Lister MP for Brackley in the Long Parliament and his wife Susan Temple daughter of Sir Alexander Temple. Lister was connected to a number of well known individuals...
and the grandmother of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
Sarah Churchill , Duchess of Marlborough rose to be one of the most influential women in British history as a result of her close friendship with Queen Anne of Great Britain.Sarah's friendship and influence with Princess Anne was widely known, and leading public figures...
.
In 1607, following his mother's death, he moved to Longhouse Place (now known as Chadwell Place) in Chadwell St Mary, Essex
Chadwell St Mary
Chadwell-St-Mary is a dispersed settlement in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England. It is one of the traditional parishes in Thurrock and former civil parish. It is a few miles east of the town of Grays and is located north of the modern town of Tilbury which was part of the parish...
. Both he and his older brother John, were admitted to Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of 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. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
in 1622. In the same year, Temple was given permission by the privy council to travel abroad for up to three years. He was allowed to take a servant with him, but he was strictly forbidden to visit Rome.
While Temple was living in Chadwell St Mary, a number of Temple family portraits were painted by Cornelius Johnson. These may have been part of a family commission. They include Temple's father (which hangs in Hagley Hall
Hagley Hall
Hagley Hall is an 18th century house in Hagley, Worcestershire. It was the creation of George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton , secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, poet and man of letters and briefly Chancellor of the Exchequer...
) and his sister (which is in the Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
). These family portraits may have included Temple himself, but no portrait is known to have survived.
In the early 1620s, as a result of his father's marriage to Mary Bankworth (who was previously married to John Busbridge), he moved again, this time to Haremere Hall in Etchingham, Sussex
Etchingham
Etchingham is a village and civil parish in the Rother District in East Sussex, southern England. The village is approximately twelve miles north-west of Hastings, on the A265, half a mile west of its junction with the A21....
. His father's third marriage gave him more step siblings, including his stepsister, Mary Busbridge to whom Temple was married in March 1627. Over the next few years, they had six children.
Isle of Ré expedition
In June 1627, George Villiers, 1st Duke of BuckinghamGeorge Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...
led an expedition to the island of Île de Ré
Île de Ré
Île de Ré is an island off the west coast of France near La Rochelle, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait....
to support the Huguenots besieged in La Rochelle
La Rochelle
La Rochelle is a city in western France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.The city is connected to the Île de Ré by a bridge completed on 19 May 1988...
by King Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1610 to 1643.Louis was only eight years old when he succeeded his father. His mother, Marie de Medici, acted as regent during Louis' minority...
. With no standing army, Buckingham's forces were largely volunteers and mercenaries. Since public opinion in England (particularly among extreme Protestants) supported the Huguenots, a number of well connected gentry came forward. The volunteers to join Buckingham included Temple, his elder brother John and other members of his family. The expedition to the Isle of Ré
Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré (1627)
The Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, also Siege of St. Martin's , occurred in the French isle of Ile de Ré around the fortress of the city of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, when Duke of Buckingham tried to occupy the island in 1627...
, was a disaster and altogether, Buckingham lost more than 5,000 men in the campaign out of a force of 7,000. Among those who died was Temple's brother.
Life in Sussex
When his father died in 1629, Temple was the main beneficiary of his father's estate. However, much of his father’s property was held via his wife, mortgaged or being used to meet other commitments. Temple had a relatively meagre inheritance - no grand country house, no great estate and certainly no large fortune. His financial affairs were not in good order and were discussed by other members of the family. Margaret Longville, Temple’s cousin, wrote to her mother, “my cousin Carew Saunders is broke for forty thousand pounds and is not able to pay five shillings in the pound and James Temple is in too much”. During Charles I's Personal RulePersonal Rule
The Personal Rule was the period from 1629 to 1640, when King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland ruled without recourse to Parliament...
(1629-1640), he was part of a network of Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
gentry in Sussex and in due course became a Sussex Justice of the Peace (JP)
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
.
Civil War
William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele
William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele was born at the family home of Broughton Castle near Banbury, in Oxfordshire. He was the only son of Richard Fiennes, seventh Baron Saye and Sele...
was one of the King's principal opponents. Temple's military experience became useful when the First English Civil War
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
broke out in August, 1642. He was appointed captain of a troop of horse raised by Lord Saye and Sele and commanded by Temple's cousin, John Fiennes
John Fiennes
John Fiennes was an English Member of Parliament during the Civil War and Commonwealth period.Fiennes was the third son of the 1st Viscount Saye and Sele...
. Temple was related to Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
via his kinsman Edward Whalley
Edward Whalley
Edward Whalley was an English military leader during the English Civil War, and was one of the regicides who signed the death warrant of King Charles I of England.-Early career:The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown...
and was able to secure a commission for Whalley in his uncle's unit. He saw action close to the Temple family home at Stowe where both Temple and Whalley fought at the Battle of Edgehill
Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642....
in October 1642.
In March 1643, Temple had returned to Sussex, and along with his stepbrother, John Busbridge, he was appointed by Parliament to the Sussex committee set for the sequestration
Sequestration (law)
Sequestration is the act of removing, separating, or seizing anything from the possession of its owner under process of law for the benefit of creditors or the state.-Etymology:...
(i.e. seizure and administration) of the assets of prominent Royalists. In December 1643, Temple was prominent in the defence of the crossing of the River Adur
River Adur
The Adur is a river in Sussex, England; it gives its name to the Adur district of West Sussex. The river was formerly navigable for large vessels up as far as Steyning, where there was a large port, but over time the river valley became silted up and the port moved down to the deeper waters nearer...
at Bramber Castle
Bramber Castle
Bramber Castle is a Norman motte-and-bailey castle in the village of Bramber, West Sussex overlooking the River Adur .William De Braose constructed the castle c1070, along with the Norman church, on a natural mound and most of the surviving masonry dates from this time...
against a Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
attack during Lord Hopton
Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton
Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton was a Royalist commander in the English Civil War.-Life:Hopton was the son of Robert Hopton of Witham Somerset. He was apparently educated at Lincoln College, Oxford and served in the army of Frederick V, Elector Palatine in the early campaigns of the Thirty...
's attempt to obtain control of Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
for the King. His actions were described by Dr Cheynell:
"Upon the 12th of December I visited a brave soldier of my acquaintance, Captn Jas Temple, who did that day defend the fort of Bramber against a bold and daring enemy to the wonder of all the country ; and I did not marvel at it, for he is a man that hath his head full of stratagems, his heart full of piety and valour, and his hand as full of success as it is of dexterity."
As the war progressed, Temple was promoted to colonel and became governor of Tilbury Fort
Tilbury Fort
Tilbury Fort is on the north, Essex, bank of the River Thames in England and was built to defend London from attack from the sea, particularly during the Spanish Armada and the Anglo-Dutch Wars...
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, a post that had previously been held by his father. The fort was close to Temple's childhood home at Longhouse Place and was of strategic importance because it controlled the approach to London by river. During the Second Civil War
Second English Civil War
The Second English Civil War was the second of three wars known as the English Civil War which refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1652 and also include the First English Civil War and the...
, there were Royalist uprisings in Kent and Essex. Temple's control of Tilbury Fort for Parliament enabled Lord Fairfax
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron was a general and parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War...
's troops to cross from Gravesend to Tilbury on route to Colchester for the siege of royalists in that town
Siege of Colchester
The siege of Colchester occurred in the summer of 1648 when the English Civil War reignited in several areas of Britain. Colchester found itself in the thick of the unrest when a Royalist army on its way through East Anglia to raise support for the King, was attacked by Lord-General Thomas Fairfax...
.
Trial of Charles I and Commonwealth
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
(MP) for Bramber
Bramber
Bramber is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is located on the northern edge of the South Downs and on the west side of the River Adur. Nearby are the communities of Steyning to the west and Upper Beeding to the east, and the other side of the river....
to replace Sir Thomas Bowyer
Sir Thomas Bowyer, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Bowyer, 1st Baronet was an English politician.Baptised on 4 December 1586 in Mundham in Sussex, he was the son of Thomas Bowyer and Jane Birch. Bowyer was Member of Parliament for Midhurst in 1614 and for Bramber from 1621 to 1642. He was a High Sheriff of Surrey and High Sheriff of...
, the royalist member who had been ejected. He belonged to the political and religious group known as Independents
Independent (religion)
In English church history, Independents advocated local congregational control of religious and church matters, without any wider geographical hierarchy, either ecclesiastical or political...
who were opposed to any compromise in Parliament's negotiations with the King. As a result he was one of the MPs allowed to remain after Pride's Purge
Pride's Purge
Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...
- a military coup that excluded from Parliament roughly three quarters of the MPs, particularly those who were believed to be unsympathetic to the Army. In January 1649, the army and the Independents decided to bring Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
to trial. Temple was one of the judges named to the High Court of Justice
High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I
The High Court of Justice is the name given to the court established by the Rump Parliament to try King Charles I of England. This was an ad hoc tribunal created specifically for the purpose of trying the king, although the same name was used again for subsequent courts.Neither the involvement of...
that conducted the trial. He attended nine sessions of the court in both the Painted Chamber
Painted Chamber
The Painted Chamber was part of the original Palace of Westminster. It was destroyed by fire in 1834.Because it was originally a royal residence, the Palace did not include any purpose-built chambers for the two Houses. Important state ceremonies, including the State Opening of Parliament, were...
and Westminster Hall. He approved the guilty verdict and signed the King's death warrant
Execution warrant
An execution warrant is a writ which authorizes the execution of a judgment of death on an individual...
- the 28th of the 59 judges to so.
During the early part of the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
period, he continued to serve on Parliamentary committees. However, he attracted accusations of corruption. In September 1650, these accusations led to him giving up his post at Tilbury Fort. It was probably around this time that he married his second wife, Joanna van Tromp.
Temple attracted a number of other accusations of financial impropriety, although apparently nothing was proved. In 1648, he was ordered by the House of Commons to respond to the legal action of one Elizabeth Willan who had attempted to serve him with two writs in connection with a bond for £400. He "threw them on the ground and spurned them with his foot". In 1649, Temple became the guardian of the daughter of one Mrs Eyre. He apparently "inveigled" her to marry his son, Alexander. As a result, Temple acquired the deeds to property in Ireland which he subsequently refused to return. A few years later, he was accused of improperly benefiting from administering the estate of a prominent Sussex catholic - Sir John Shelley - whose heir was a minor.
Following Temple's marriage, his father had invested in a farming venture by Edward Whalley who was the brother-in-law of Temple's stepsister - Mary Penistone. Sir Alexander apparently intended this to provide an inheritance for his grandchildren (the children of James Temple). As a younger son himself, Sir Alexander wanted to ensure suitable provision for his own younger son. This investment made by Temple's father for the benefit of his children had apparently become valueless when Edward Whalley fled to Scotland in the late 1630s. However, in the 1650s, Whalley had become a prominent and successful member of the Puritan establishment and there was a possibility of recovering some money. In the late 1650s, Temple and Whalley went to the Court of Chancery
Court of Chancery
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the administration of the estates of...
to determine what was due to Temple and his children. However, with the death of Oliver Cromwell and the subsequent restoration of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, both regicides were faced with the possibility of execution and the case appears to have been unresolved.
Restoration
Rump Parliament
The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....
and Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...
s by General Monck, but following the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
in 1660, he was excluded from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act
Indemnity and Oblivion Act
The Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660 is an Act of the Parliament of England , the long title of which is "An Act of Free and General Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion"....
, because of his role in the trial and execution of Charles I. He was captured in Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
while trying to travel to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, under his first wife's maiden name of Busbridge. He was held in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
before being tried as a regicide. He tried to avoid the death penalty by saying that he had only acted as a judge in Charles I's trial in order to give information to the Royalists. He went on to claim that he had tried to prevent the King's execution, begging Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
to spare him. He did avoid execution and was sentenced to life imprisonment, initially in Mont Orgueil
Mont Orgueil
Mont Orgueil is a castle in Jersey. It is located overlooking the harbour of Gorey. It is also called Gorey Castle by English-speakers, and lé Vièr Châté by Jèrriais-speakers....
, and subsequently in Elizabeth Castle
Elizabeth Castle
Elizabeth Castle is a castle in Saint Helier, Jersey. Construction was started in the 16th century when the power of cannon meant that the existing stronghold at Mont Orgueil was insufficient to defend the Island and the port of St. Helier was vulnerable to attack by ships armed with...
(both on Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
in the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
) where he is reported to have died on 17 February 1680.
Winstanley described him as "not so much famous for his valour as his villainy, being remarkable for nothing but this horrible business of the king's murther, for which he came into the pack to have a share in the spoyle."