Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham

Field Marshal Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham (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


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 his friend, John Vanbrugh, a skilled architect, and the future royal gardener, Charles Bridgeman.

Politics
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 grandson 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".