Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham
Encyclopedia
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.
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.
, 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.
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
.
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.
, 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".
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Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham PC (24 October 1675 – 14 September 1749) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
and Whig politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He was known for his ownership of and modifications to the estate at Stowe
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...
and for serving as a political mentor to the young William Pitt.
Early life
Temple was the son of Sir Richard Temple, 3rd BaronetSir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet
Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1654 and from 1660 to 1697....
of Stowe
Stowe, Buckinghamshire
Stowe is a civil parish and former village about northwest of Buckingham in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Boycott, Dadford and Lamport....
and his wife Mary Knapp, daughter of Thomas Knapp of Oxford. The family politics were Whig. After attending Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, 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 ColonelLieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
, and he became a Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
at 34, which was an extremely young age. He had especially distinguished himself, like many other famous officers, during the Duke of Marlborough
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, Prince of Mindelheim, KG, PC , was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs through the late 17th and early 18th centuries...
's campaigns in the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
, especially during the Siege of Lille
Siege of Lille (1708)
The Siege of Lille was the salient operation of the 1708 campaign season during the War of the Spanish Succession...
in 1708.
Post-war
Beneficiary
A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example: The beneficiary of a life insurance policy, is the person who receives the payment of the amount of insurance after the death of the insured...
Anne Halsey, whose wealthy ancestry allowed him to extensively work on the estate of Stowe
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...
, while buying off two cousins to keep them from inheriting the estate. When King George I
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
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
War of the Quadruple Alliance
The War of the Quadruple Alliance was a result of the ambitions of King Philip V of Spain, his wife, Elisabeth Farnese, and his chief minister Giulio Alberoni to retake territories in Italy and to claim the French throne. It saw the defeat of Spain by an alliance of Britain, France, Austria , and...
he led a force of 4,000 troops on a raid on the Spanish coastline which captured Vigo
Vigo
Vigo is a city and municipality in north-west Spain, in Galicia, situated on the ria of the same name on the Atlantic Ocean.-Population:...
and occupied it for ten days
Capture of Vigo
The Capture of Vigo occurred in 1719 during the War of the Quadruple Alliance when a British expedition landed on the Spanish coast and seized the settlement of Vigo which they occupied for ten days before withdrawing...
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
Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman was an English garden designer in the onset of the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres and avenues to a freer style that incorporated formal, structural and...
, and his friend, John Vanbrugh
John Vanbrugh
Sir John Vanbrugh – 26 March 1726) was an English architect and dramatist, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse and The Provoked Wife , which have become enduring stage favourites...
, a skilled architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
.
Politics
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. Meanwhile, Cobham had become the Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire
Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire
There has been a Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire almost continuously since the position was created by King Henry VIII in 1535. The only exception to this was the English Civil War and English Interregnum between 1643 and 1660 when there was no king to support the Lieutenancy...
and Governor of Jersey (1723–1749). However, when he began disagreeing with Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Robert Walpole, he moved to the opposition party, causing his replacement by the Duke of Marlborough
Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough
Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough KG, PC , known as The Earl of Sunderland between 1729 and 1733, was a British soldier and politician. He briefly served as Lord Privy Seal in 1755...
son of his former commander. Nevertheless, he was ultimately given the rank of field marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
on 28 March 1742.
By 1734, Cobham had gone from government to opposition and had formed a faction in the Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
Party to oppose the Excise Bill of Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....
. 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
George Grenville
George Grenville was a British Whig statesman who rose to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. Grenville was born into an influential political family and first entered Parliament in 1741 as an MP for Buckingham...
and George Lyttelton
George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton
George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton PC , known as Sir George Lyttelton, Bt between 1751 and 1756, was a British politician and statesman and a patron of the arts.-Background and education:...
, 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
Childcare
Child care means caring for and supervising child/children usually from 0–13 years of age. In the United States child care is increasingly referred to as early childhood education due to the understanding of the impact of early experiences of the developing child...
charity, the Foundling Hospital
Foundling Hospital
The Foundling Hospital in London, England was founded in 1741 by the philanthropic sea captain Thomas Coram. It was a children's home established for the "education and maintenance of exposed and deserted young children." The word "hospital" was used in a more general sense than it is today, simply...
, for which he was a founding governor.
In 1749 Cobham died.
Legacy
Cobham was admired by Alexander PopeAlexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
, 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
Basil Williams
Basil Williams OBE , was an English historian.Williams was born in London, the son of a barrister. He was educated at Marlborough College and then read Classics at New College, Oxford. He was a clerk in the House of Commons...
said Cobham "had all the coarse, roystering bluffness of the hardened old campaigners of that time".
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).
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