James Templer (1748–1813) of Stover House,

Teigngrace Teigngrace is a civil parish centred on a hamlet that lies about two miles north of the town of Newton Abbot in Devon, England. According to the 2001 census, its population was 235, compared to 190 a century earlier. The western boundary of the p ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, was a Devon landowner and the builder of the Stover Canal.

Biography

He was the eldest son and heir of James Templer (1722–1782), of Stover House,

, a self-made magnate who had made his fortune building dockyards. Templer transport map

Templer was a Master in the

Crown Office The Crown Office, also known (especially in official papers) as the Crown Office in Chancery, is a section of the Ministry of Justice (formerly the Lord Chancellor's Department). It has custody of the Great Seal of the Realm, and has certain a ...

at London. He inherited the Stover estate in 1782, and began construction of a new church at Teigngrace, built in the local

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

from quarries at

Hay Tor Haytor, also known as Haytor Rocks, Hay Tor, or occasionally Hey Tor, is a granite tor on the eastern edge of Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. Location The tor is at grid reference , near the village of Haytor Vale in the parish of Il ...

. This was completed in 1787, and his brother Rev. John Templer (1751–1832) of Lindridge House was the first

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the church. The mining of

ball clay Ball clays are kaolinitic sedimentary clays that commonly consist of 20–80% kaolinite, 10–25% mica, 6–65% quartz. Localized seams in the same deposit have variations in composition, including the quantity of the major minerals, accessory ...

in the area had begun to rapidly expand, and from 1790 Templer built the Stover Canal at his own expense to transport clay to cellars on the banks of the

River Teign The River Teign is a river in the county of Devon, England. It is long and rises on Dartmoor, becomes an estuary just below Newton Abbot and reaches the English Channel at Teignmouth. Toponymy The river-name 'Teign' is first attested in an An ...

, for onward transportation by barge down the river estuary to the port of

Teignmouth Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at th ...

on the coast. In 1776 he married Mary Buller (1749–1829), third daughter of James Buller (1717–1765) of Downes, Crediton,

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for East Looe in Cornwall (1741–7) and for the County of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

(1748–1765). They had children, including: *

George Templer George Templer (1781 – 12 December 1843) was a landowner in Devon, England, and the builder of the Haytor Granite Tramway. His father was the second James Templer (canal builder), James Templer (1748–1813) who had built the Stover Canal. He ...

(1781–1843), son and heir, who inherited the Stover estate and built the

Haytor Granite Tramway The Haytor Granite Tramway (also called Heytor) was a tramway built to convey granite from Haytor Down, Dartmoor, Devon to the Stover Canal. It was very unusual in that the track was formed of granite sections, shaped to guide the wheels of ho ...

. *Charlotte Frances Templer (d. 1875 Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p.5, pedigree of Acland), who married twice, firstly in 1811 to Capt. Richard Dalling Dunn (1767–1813),

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, whose mural monument survives in Teigngrace Church. Her second marriage was in 1819 to Capt. Charles Richard Acland (1793–1828),

, third son of

Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (18 April 1752 – 17 May 1794) of Killerton in Devon and Holnicote in Somerset, was a prominent landowner and member of the West Country gentry. He was especially noted for his passion for staghunting, ...

(1752–1794), of Killerton House in Devon. He died from blackwater fever off Simondstown, South Africa. The marriage was without progeny. Templer died aged 65 on 21 June 1813, and is commemorated by a Coade stone monument in Teigngrace church.

Notes

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Templer, James People from Teignbridge (district) 1748 births 1813 deaths Businesspeople from Devon