John Temple

Who is John Temple?

John Temple, sometimes known as Sir John Temple, 8th Baronet, was the first British consul-general to the United States.

He was born in Boston. His father, Robert Temple, was a captain in the English army, and his mother was Mehibatel Nelson of Boston. In 1762 he was appointed lieutenant governor of the Province of New Hampshire and surveyor general of customs. In 1767, he married Elizabeth Bowdoin, daughter of James Bowdoin, who later became governor of Massachusetts. Temple was politically aligned with the populist faction in Massachusetts politics, and strongly opposed to the domination of colonial rule by Thomas Hutchinson and the Oliver family. Temple may have played a role in the Hutchinson Letters Affair of 1773 that inflamed political tensions in Massachusetts and led to the recall of Hutchinson, who was then governor of the province.

In 1785, he was appointed consul-general to the United States, and remained in this post in New York until his death.