User:EE Project/William Johnston Temple

William Johnston Temple (1739–1796), Scottish clergyman, essayist

Son of William Temple (1710–1774) and his wife, Sarah née Johnston (d. 1747); in 1767 he married Anne Stow (1741–1793); they had eight children. Educated at the University of Edinburgh 1755, where he formed a lifelong friendship with the writer James Boswell; at Cambridge, 1758, where he became a friend of the poet Thomas Gray; Middle Temple 1759; LLB 1765; ordained 1766. Rector of Mamhead 1766; vicar of St Gluvias 1776. He is best known for his 'portrait' of Thomas Gray, but his remarkably frank correspondence with Boswell is no less notable for what it tells us about both writers.