Peter Temple

The National Archives, Kew — Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Will Registers, PROB 11/688/108, register BRODREPP (PROB 11/688 = quires 45-94), folios 279-280. Catalogue title "Will of Peter Temple, Gentleman of Bishopstrow, Wiltshire", catalogue date 02 March 1738 (the probate). ORDERED AND READ IN THE ORIGINAL 31 Jul 2026. PDF and page images: ancestry/sources/peter-temple-bishopstrow-1738-will-PROB-11-688-108.pdf OPENING: "I PETER TEMPLE of Bishopstrow in the County of Wilts Gent, revoking all former Wills by me made, doe declare my last Will and Testament to be as follows." MOURNING RINGS AND LEGACIES, verbatim in substance: "first I give and bequeath unto my Son PETER TEMPLE and ANNE his Wife, my son in law JOSEPH DOWDLE and MARY his Wife, my son in law JOHN BENNETT and [wife], my son in law EDWARD MIDDLECOTT and ELIZABETH his wife, my son in law HENRY CLARKE and PRISCILLA his Wife, and unto my son in law JOHN FOREMAN and SUSANNAH his wife, ten pounds each for a Mourning. Item I give unto my BROTHER BARTHOLOMEW TEMPLE five pounds. Item I give and bequeath to my COUSINS WILLIAM TEMPLE and JOSEPH TEMPLE twenty shillings each for Rings. Item I give to my DAUGHTER IN LAW MARY TEMPLE my Chariot, my pair of Coach horses and Harness. Item I give to my SISTER IN LAW MRS ELIZABETH PEIRCE OF BROUGHTON IN THE COUNTY OF DEVON five pounds. Item I give unto my Cousin Mr NATHANIEL HE[S-] and ANNE his Wife, Mrs MARGARETT PEIRCE, Mr THOMAS PEIRCE and MARY his Wife, Mr JOHN BUTLER and MARY his wife, Mrs ELIZABETH GOUGH and Mrs ELIZABETH PEIRCE Widow twenty shillings each for Rings. Item I give five pounds to be distributed at the discretion of my said son Peter Temple amongst the poor persons of Bishopstrow aforesaid not having releife of the said Parish. Item I give to the REVEREND MR SAMUEL BATES forty shillings to preach my funerall Sermon. Item I give unto my servant RICHARD ARCHILD forty shillings if liveing with me at the time of my decease..." ⭐⭐ RELIGION, in his own words: "...I request my eldest Grandson PETER TEMPLE, to whom I give and bequeath all the rest and residue of my Goods Chattells and personall Estate and whom I make SOLE EXECUTOR of this my last Will and Testament, to pay to the Minister for the time being of the MEETING HOUSE IN WARMINSTER WHEREUNTO I BELONG the yearly sum of seven pounds and ten shillings." A MEETING HOUSE is a Nonconformist congregation — this is the first evidence of the family's religion anywhere in this tree. THE 1722 SETTLEMENTS: "...by two deeds or Marriage Settlements both dated THE TWENTIETH DAY OF JUNE ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO made on the MARRIAGE OF MY LATE SON with MRS MARY LANGLEY HIS NOW WIDOW..." — trustees "THOMAS BENNETT ESQ and WILLIAM SEAMAN GENT who is since dead"; £800 charged on the estates for the grandsons, administered by "my said son Peter Temple and my said kinsman JOHN LANGLEY". DATED: "In Witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand and Seale the ELEVENTH DAY OF JUNE in the year of Our Lord One thousand seven hundred and THIRTY ONE. — PETER TEMPLE." Witnesses: "Li: SEAMAN, Wm KING, WILLIAM LANGLEY." PROBATE: "On the SECOND DAY OF MARCH in the year of Our Lord One Thousand seven hundred and THIRTY SEVEN issued forth a Commission to MARY TEMPLE WIDOW THE MOTHER AND CURATRIX lawfully assigned to PETER TEMPLE A MINOR the eldest Grandson and sole Executor named in the last Will and Testament of Peter Temple late of Bishopstrow in the County of Wilts deceased, to administer the Goods Chattells and Credits of the said deceased... for the use and benefit of the said Minor UNTILL HE SHALL ATTAIN THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN YEARS." ⭐ SO HIS DEATH IS BRACKETED: alive and signing 11 Jun 1731, dead by 2 Mar 1737/8. WSHC's catalogue of the family papers says "Peter Temple (died 1736) (P.C.C)" and VCH Wilts. viii fn 27 cites "W.R.O. 132, Inv. of Peter Temple, 1736" — neither read by us, so 1736 is noted but the DATE FIELD carries only what this document proves. ⛔ AN INTERNAL CONFLICT, RECORDED NOT RESOLVED: the will calls grandson Peter "one of the Children of my said Son PETER Temple" (read at 4.5x; the word is unambiguously Peter), yet the probate makes MARY TEMPLE WIDOW his MOTHER, while son Peter's wife is named ANNE in the will — and the 1722 settlement is on "my LATE Son" and Mary Langley, which WSHC catalogues as SAMUEL's and which VCH makes the father of the brothers Peter and William. The will and its own probate cannot both be read plainly. DO NOT merge Samuel and Peter; do not 'fix' the parentage. ⭐ THREE ALLIED SURNAMES ACROSS FOUR GENERATIONS: SEAMAN (John Temple's wife d.1637, his overseers, and here a trustee and a witness), BENNETT (Elizabeth Temple's brothers in 1705, and here a trustee AND a son-in-law), PEIRCE (attested in three earlier wills; here a sister-in-law and four more).