Lieut.-Col. Sir Richard Carnac Temple, Bart., C.I.E., D.L., J.P.
This page is a biography of Sir Richard Carnac Temple (1850-1931), of the Nash, Kempsey. He was a soldier, administrator and scholar in India and Burma. This site is a history of the village of Kempsey, Worcestershire, England.
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Source: 'Worcester Leaders: Social and Political' (text unknown, but not modern).
"A career as varied as it had been interesting has been that of Sir Richard Carnac Temple, Bart, of The Nash, near Worcester; soldier, civil servant, scientist and litterateur, he has played many parts and played them well. Born at Allahabad, on October 15th, 1850, he is the eldest son of the late Right Honourable Sir Richard Temple, Baronet, who died in 1902, by his wife, Charlotte Frances, who died in 1855, daughter of the late Benjamin Martindale, Esq.
He was educated at Harrow and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, as on leaving Cambridge he chose a military career and joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers as an Ensign in 1871, being promoted in the same year. He was transferred to the Bengal Staff Corps, afterwards the Indian Army, in 1877, serving at various times with the 38th Dogras and the 1st Gurkhas. Shortly after being transferred to the Indian Army he saw active service in the Afghan Campaign of 1878 and 1879, being mentioned in despatches and awarded the medal. He was promoted Captain in 1883, and holding this rank served throughout the Burmese War of 1887, and the two following years, receiving the medal and two clasps. Sir Richard was gazetted to a Majority in 1891, and became Lieutenant-Colonel in 1897.
His first experience of Civil Service was in 1879 as Cantonment Magistrate in the Punjab. In 1887 he was appointed Assistant-Commissioner in Burmah and Cantonment Magistrate at Mandalay, being promoted to the rank of Deputy-Commissioner in 1888. Whilst on special duty to the Government of India in 1890, Sir Richard framed the code of Cantonment Regulations and reported on the Local Taxation of Railways, receiving the thanks of the Government. From the year 1891 until 1894 he acted as Official President of the Rangoon Municipality, as as Port-Commissioner at Rangoon, being appointed in the latter year Chief Commissioner of the Andoman and Nicobar Islands, and Superintendent of the Penal Settlement at Port Blair. The inhabitants of the Andaman Islands are said to be the lowest of the scale of humanity, not even excepting the Australian Aborigines. The ethnology and languages of these islanders, as well as of the more civilised Nicabarese, have been elaborately described by Sir Richard in the Census Report for India, 1901. Sir Richard held the above combined posts until 1904.
In 1887 he raised and commanded, until 1890, the Upper Burmah Volunteer Rifles, and at the request of the Government, raised the Rangoon Naval Volunteers in 1892, whilst he commanded the Rangoon Volunteer Artillery from 1891 until 1893. Sir Richard, who also raised the Rangoon Port Defence Volunteers (Naval, Artillery and Engineer) in 1893, is Honorary Lieut.-Col. of the Rangoon Volunteer Artillery and Port Defence Volunteers, has been a member of the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Asiatic Society of Bengal, the Philological Society, the Folklore Society, the Hakluyt Society, and the Royal Anthropological Institute. He is a Silver Medalist of the Royal Society of Arts. He was sometime President of the Bombay Anthropological Society, of the Smithsonian Institute, and of the Numismatic Society of Philadelphia. He is an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, one of the rarest of Academical distinctions.
As a writer on oriental subjects, Sir Richard has few equals and no superiors. His first literary effort was "The Andaman Language," published in conjunction with Mr. E. H. Man, C.I.E., in 1887. Seven years later in collaboration with Mrs. Flora Annie Steel, one of the most talented of Anglo-Indian novelists, he wrote "Wideawake Stories," perhaps the best Indian Folk-Tales ever published. Later he was responsible for the production of "Legends of the Punjab," in the vernacular with translation, in three volumes, which were published between 1883 and 1890, and "The Thirty-Seven Nats," a study of Animism in Burma, in 1906, a highly illustrated volume ; edited Fallon's "Dictionary of Hindustani Proverbs" from 1885 to 1887, and Burnell's "Devil-Worship of the Tuluvas" in 1897. Sir Richard was also editor for the Hakluyt Society, from the original M.SS. of two works of seventeenth century travels :- Bowrey's Countries Round the Bay of Bengal, 1669-1679, and Peter Mundy's Travels, 1608-1620, and has been editor and proprietor of the "Indian Antiquary" since 1884. He founded and edited Punjab Notes and Queries from 1883 until 1887, whilst he has been responsible for the authorship of a great number of papers and articles in the Journals of Scientific Societies. He is now producing, for the Government of India, the Journals of Sir Streynsham Master in 1675 to 1679. His "Plan for a Uniform Scientific Record of the Language of Savages," after being twenty-five years under consideration has been completed and printed in the current year.
Sir Richard, who was lately appointed a member of the Home Departmental Committee to enquire into the Status of Baronets, is Deputy Chairman of the Military Home Hospital Reserve, Assistant-Director and Deputy-Chairman of the St. John Ambulance Association, and Chairman of the Worcester County Association under the new Territorial Forces Act.
Sir Richard is a Knight of Grace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. He married in 1880 Agnes Fanny, second daughter of the late Major-General George Archimedes Searle, a Lady of Grace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and has an heir, Richard Durand, who was born in 1880, was educated at Harrow, and holds a Lieutenancy in the 60th Rifles, with which he served in the South African War, and won the Queen's medal with four clasps."
He died in 1931, and his ashes are interred at Kempsey. Click here or on the picture of the plaque to Sir Richard in Kempsey Church for an enlargement. The plaque reads:
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© 2001 - Andy Morrall Last updated 17th January 2003.
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