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Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple

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British politician and peer

The Right Honourable The Earl Temple KG PC
Portrait of the Earl Temple in the robes of theOrder of the Garter, byAllan Ramsay,c. 1762

Lord Privy Seal
In office 30 June 1757 – 5 October 1761
Monarchs	George II George III
Prime Minister	The Duke of Newcastle
Preceded by	The Earl Gower
Succeeded by	The Duke of Bedford
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office 1756–1757
Monarch	George II
Prime Minister	The Duke of Devonshire
Preceded by	The Lord Anson
Succeeded by	The Earl of Winchilsea

Personal details
Born	26 September 1711 (1711-09-26) Buckinghamshire, England
Died	12 September 1779 (1779-09-13) (aged 67)
Spouse	Anna Chamber
Parent(s)	Richard Grenville Hester Grenville, 1st Countess Temple

Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple,KG,PC (26 September 1711 – 12 September 1779) was a British politician and peer who served asLord Privy Seal from 1757 to 1761. He is best known for his association with his brother-in-lawWilliam Pitt, serving with him in thePitt–Newcastle ministry duringBritain's participation in theSeven Years' War from 1756 to 1761. He resigned, along with Pitt, in 1761 in protest over the ministry's refusal to declare war onSpain.^[1]

Early life

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The eldest son ofRichard Grenville (1678–1727) ofWotton Underwood,Buckinghamshire, and ofHester, later Countess Temple, he was educated atEton College, and in 1734 was returned toParliament as member for the borough of Buckingham. In 1752, on the death of his mother, he inherited her titles together with the rich estates ofStowe House and Wotton; and he then took the name of Temple in addition to his original surname of Grenville.^[2]

On 7 May 1737 he marriedAnna Chamber, an heiress.

Seven Years War

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Main article:Great Britain in the Seven Years War

The turning point in his political fortunes was the marriage of his sister Hester in 1754 toWilliam Pitt, later Earl of Chatham. Although Lord Temple had no outstanding qualities, his political career became linked with that of his brother-in-law. In November 1756 Temple becameFirst Lord of the Admiralty in the ministry ofDevonshire and Pitt. He was intensely disliked byGeorge II, who dismissed both him and Pitt from office in April 1757. But when the coalition cabinet ofNewcastle and Pitt was formed in June of the same year, Temple received the office ofprivy seal. He was the only member of the cabinet who supported Pitt's proposal to declare war with Spain in 1761, and they resigned together on 5 October.^[2]

Quartered coat of arms of Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, KG

Later career

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From this time Temple became one of the most factious of politicians; he himself is said to have avowed that "he loved faction, and had a great deal of money to spare." He was on bad terms with his younger brother,George Grenville, when the latter became first lord of the treasury in April 1763, and he had no place in that ministry; but the brothers were reconciled before 1765, when Temple refused to join the government and persuaded Pitt to refuse likewise. A few weeks later the king offered terms to induce Pitt to form or join an administration; "a ministry directed by that great statesman," wroteWilliam Edward Hartpole Lecky

"would have been beyond all comparison the most advantageous to the country; it had no serious difficulty to encounter, and Pitt himself was now ready to undertake the task, but the evil genius of Lord Temple again prevailed. Without his co-operation Pitt could not, or would not proceed, and Temple absolutely refused to take office even in the foremost place."

Pitt's continued refusal to join thefirst Rockingham ministry may have been partly due to Temple, but before the end of 1765 the old friendship between the brothers-in-law was dissolving; and when at last in July 1766 Pitt agreed to form a government, Temple refused to join, offended because, although offered the Treasury, he was not to be allowed an equal share with Pitt in nominating to other offices. Temple then began to libel Pitt; and in conjunction with his brother George he concentrated the whole Grenville connection in hostility to the government. After George Grenville's death in 1770 Lord Temple retired almost completely from public life.^[2]

Lord Temple was said to have been the author of several anonymous libels, and the inspirer of many more.Macaulay's comparison of him with a mole working below "in some foul, crooked labyrinth whenever a heap of dirt was flung up," fromHorace Walpole, was partisan; but his character was rated very low by his contemporaries. In private life he used his wealth with generosity to his relations, friends and dependents. Pitt owed money to him. He was the principal backer behindThe North Briton weekly newspaper,^[3] and he paid the costs incurred byJohn Wilkes in litigation. He also provided Wilkes with the freehold qualification which enabled him to stand forMiddlesex in the election of 1768.^[4]

Although known as a man given to confrontation and strife, Earl Temple did get involved with one of London's most fashionable charities of his time. He served as a vice president for theFoundling Hospital from 1760 to 1768, which was dedicated to the salvation of the large number of children abandoned by their parents in London each day. It cannot be ruled out that his involvement in this charity was motivated purely by compassion. However, it is possible that it also had to do with the achievement of status and access to other notable supporters, such as theDuke of Bedford,Lord Vere Beauclerk, and theEarl of Dartmouth, among others.

In addition to the estates he inherited, Temple gained a considerable fortune by his marriage in 1737 withAnne, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Chambers of Hanworth, Middlesex;^[4] a volume of poems by her was printed at theStrawberry Hill Press in 1764.^[5]

Cricket

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Like his friendGeorge Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, Grenville was keen oncricket. The earliest surviving record of his involvement in the sport comes from August 1741 when, as the patron andcaptain of theBuckinghamshire county team, he and Halifax organised theNorthamptonshire vBuckinghamshire match atCow Meadow,Northampton.^[6]^[7]

Death

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Earl Temple died early in September 1779, aged 67, after a fall from hisphaeton.^[8] The only issue of his marriage being a daughter who died in infancy, Temple was succeeded in the earldom by his nephewGeorge Nugent-Temple-Grenville, later 1st Marquess of Buckingham.^[4]

Notes

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^McNeill 1911.
^^a ^b ^cMcNeill 1911, p. 601.
^Cash, Arthur (2006).John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. p. 69.ISBN 0-300-12363-9.
^^a ^b ^cMcNeill 1911, p. 602.
^"Chamber, Anna [married name Anna Grenville-Temple, Countess Temple] (1709?–1777), poet".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/68306. (Subscription,Wikipedia Library access orUK public library membership required.)
^Maun, pp. 106–107.
^Waghorn,Cricket Scores, p. 27.
^The Complete Peerage, Volume XII. St Catherine's Press. 1953. p. 658.

Bibliography

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Bellot, Leland J. "Grenville, Richard, second Earl Temple (1711–1779)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11495. (Subscription,Wikipedia Library access orUK public library membership required.)
Maun, Ian (2009).From Commons to Lord's, Volume One: 1700 to 1750. Roger Heavens.ISBN 978-1-900592-52-9.
Waghorn, H. T. (1899).Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: McNeill, Ronald John (1911). "Temple, Richard Grenville-Temple". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 601–602. Endnotes:
- The Grenville Papers (London, 1852), a considerable portion of which consists of Earl Temple's correspondence;
- Horace Walpole,Memoirs of the Reign of George II., 3 vols. (London, 1847);Memoirs of the Reign of George III., 4 vols. (London, 1845 and 1894);
- Earl Waldegrave,Memoirs 1754-8 (London, 1821);
- Nathaniel William Wraxall,Historical Memoirs, edited by H. B. Wheatley, 5 vols. (London, 1884);
- Correspondence of Chatham, edited by W. S. Taylor and J. H. Pringle, 4 vols. (London, 1838–40);
- W. E. H. Lecky,History of England in the Eighteenth Century, vols. ii. and iii. (7 vols., London, 1892).

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by John Fane George Chamberlayne	Member for Buckingham 1734–1741 With:George Chamberlayne	Succeeded by George Chamberlayne George Grenville
Preceded by Sir William Stanhope Sir Thomas Lee, 3rd Bt.	Member for Buckinghamshire 1741–1747 With:Richard Lowndes	Succeeded by Richard Lowndes Sir William Stanhope
Preceded by George Chamberlayne George Grenville	Member for Buckingham 1747–1752 With:George Grenville	Succeeded by George Grenville Temple West
Political offices
Preceded by The Lord Anson	First Lord of the Admiralty 1756–1757	Succeeded by The Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham
Preceded by The Earl Gower	Lord Privy Seal 1757–1761	Succeeded by The Duke of Bedford
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Duke of Marlborough	Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire 1759–1763	Succeeded by The Lord le Despencer
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Hester Temple	Earl Temple 1752–1779	Succeeded by George Nugent-Temple-Grenville

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