Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham

The Viscount Cobham
Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham
Born	24 October 1675
Died	14 September 1749 (aged 73)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	Field-marshal
Battles/wars	War of the Spanish Succession War of the Quadruple Alliance

Field Marshal Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham PC (24 October 1675 – 14 September 1749) was a British soldier and Whig politician. He was known for his ownership of and modifications to the estate at Stowe and for serving as a political mentor to the young William Pitt.

Early life

Temple was the son of Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet of Stowe and his wife Mary Knapp, daughter of Thomas Knapp of Oxford. The family politics were Whig. After attending Eton College and Cambridge University, Temple entered the military. In 1697, at the age of 21, he inherited his father's baronetcy.

Military career

By the age of 26, he was a Lieutenant Colonel, and he became a Lieutenant General at 34, which was an extremely young age. He had especially distinguished himself, like many other famous officers, during the Duke of Marlborough's campaigns in the War of the Spanish Succession, especially during the Siege of Lille in 1708.

Post-war

Cobham's estate at Stowe House.

In 1715 he married heiress Anne Halsey, whose wealthy ancestry allowed him to extensively work on the estate of Stowe, while buying off two cousins to keep them from inheriting the estate. When King George I ascended to the throne, he awarded Temple various peerages, first Baron Cobham in 1714, then the Viscounty of Cobham and Baron Cobham (with special remainder) in 1718. Cobham became a Privy Councillor in 1716.

In 1719 during the War of the Quadruple Alliance he led a force of 4,000 troops on a raid on the Spanish coastline which captured Vigo and occupied it for ten days before withdrawing.

Temple's socioeconomic position moved high with the receipt of these titles and monies. From 1711, he made drastic changes to the estate of Stowe. As he made extensive renovations to the estate, he called upon the royal gardener, Charles Bridgeman, and his friend, John Vanbrugh, a skilled architect.

Politics

Cobham was a mentor and Patron to a number of young Whigs, the most notable being William Pitt. Collectively they became known as Cobham's Cubs. Two of them, Pitt and Cobham's nephew George Grenville went on to be Prime Minister.

A determined Whig, he had supported the government of Sir Robert Walpole since it had come to power in 1721 and generally voted with them in the House of Lords. Meanwhile, Cobham had become the Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire and Governor of Jersey (1723–1749). However, when he began disagreeing with Prime Minister Robert Walpole, he moved to the opposition party, causing his replacement by the Duke of Marlborough son of his former commander. Nevertheless, he was ultimately given the rank of field marshal on 28 March 1742.

By 1734, Cobham had gone from government to opposition and had formed a faction in the Whig Party to oppose the Excise Bill of Robert Walpole. Cobham provided patronage the rising star of the Whig Party, William Pitt, securing him a cornet's commission in his regiment. The group of Cobham's young supporters were known as the 'Cobham Cubs' and included George Grenville and George Lyttelton, as well as Pitt. After Walpole's fall as Prime Minister in 1742, they turned their attacks on his replacement – a government led by Lord Wilmington and Carteret.

Cobham was also involved in the 1739 creation of the nation's first childcare charity, the Foundling Hospital, for which he was a founding governor.

In 1749 Cobham died.

Legacy

Cobham was admired by Alexander Pope, and Cobham's gardens were praised by Pope in his Epistle to Burlington as a wonder. Pope wrote a "moral epistle" to Cobham in 1733 and published it in the same year as An Epistle to the Right Honourable Richard Lord Visct. Cobham. Pope praises Cobham as a practical man of the world whose "ruling passion" was service to his country, whatever the cost. Basil Williams said Cobham "had all the coarse, roystering bluffness of the hardened old campaigners of that time".

References

• Matthew Kilburn, ‘Temple, Richard, first Viscount Cobham (1675–1749)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2005, accessed 17 Aug 2010.
• N. A. M. Rodger, Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815 (Penguin Books, 2006).
• Basil Williams, The Life of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1914).
• Permanent Lieutenants of Buckinghamshire

Further reading

• J. V. Beckett, The Rise and Fall of the Grenvilles: Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos, 1710 to 1921 (Manchester University Press, 1994).
• Michael Bevington, Stowe: The Garden and the Park (Paul Holberton, 2002).
• Christine Gerrard, The Patriot Opposition to Walpole: Politics, Poetry, and National Myth, 1725–1742 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994).
• Albert R. Temple, Lord Cobham: The Life of Sir Richard Temple, Viscount (1765 - 1749) (The Temple Family Association, 1976).
• L. M. Wiggin, The Faction of Cousins: A Political Account of the Grenvilles, 1733–1763 (Yale University Press, 1958).

Parliament of England
Preceded by Sir Richard Temple, Bt Alexander Denton	Member of Parliament for Buckingham 1697–1702 With: Alexander Denton 1697–1698 Sir Edmund Denton, Bt 1698–1702	Succeeded by Sir Edmund Denton, Bt Roger Price
Preceded by The Viscount Newhaven Goodwin Egerton	Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire 1704–1707 With: The Viscount Newhaven 1704–1705 Robert Dormer 1705–1706 William Egerton 1706–1707	Succeeded by Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Sir Edmund Denton, Bt Roger Price	Member of Parliament for Buckingham May – December 1705 With: Sir Edmund Denton, Bt	Succeeded by Sir Edmund Denton, Bt Browne Willis
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Parliament of England	Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire 1707–1708 With: William Egerton	Succeeded by Sir Edmund Denton, Bt Richard Hampden
Preceded by Sir Edmund Denton, Bt Browne Willis	Member of Parliament for Buckingham 1708–1713 With: Alexander Denton 1708–1710 Thomas Chapman 1710–1713	Succeeded by Thomas Chapman John Radcliffe
Military offices
Preceded by The Earl of Strafford	Colonel of The Royal Regiment of Dragoons 1715–1721	Succeeded by Sir Charles Hotham, Bt
Preceded by The Viscount of Irvine	Colonel of The King's Own Regiment of Horse 1721–1733	Succeeded by The Earl of Pembroke
Preceded by James Dormer	Captain and Colonel of the 1st Troop Horse Grenadier Guards 1742–1745	Succeeded by Richard Onslow
Preceded by Clement Neville	Colonel of Viscount Cobham's Regiment of Horse 1744–1745	Succeeded by Thomas Wentworth
Preceded by Charles Churchill	Colonel of Viscount Cobham's Regiment of Dragoons 1745–1749	Succeeded by Sir John Mordaunt
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Duke of Northumberland	Constable of Windsor Castle 1716–1723	Succeeded by The Earl of Carlisle
Preceded by The Duke of Bridgwater	Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire 1728–1738	Succeeded by The Duke of Marlborough
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation	Viscount Cobham 1718–1749	Succeeded by Hester Temple
	Baron Cobham 1714–1749
Baronetage of England
Preceded by Richard Temple	Baronet (of Stow) 1697–1749	Succeeded by William Temple