Peter Temple (regicide)

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Peter Temple was a regicide, c.1599-1663.

Born at Sibson, Leicestershire, he was apprenticed to a linen draper, but inherited his family's estate at Temple Hall in Leicestershire after the deaths of his two older brothers. Temple was appointed to the Militia Committee for Leicestershire in January 1643 and became Sheriff of Leicestershire the following year. He held a military commission under Lord Grey of Groby, but was accused of cowardice. When the army of King Charles I army was approaching Leicester in May 1645, Temple left for London. He was elected recruiter Member of Parliament for Leicester in November 1645. Appointed to the High Court of Justice in January 1649, he sat as one of the King's judges and signed the death warrant.

Temple remained Sheriff of Leicester during the Interregnum and was active in suppressing Baptists and Ranters. As a Regicide, he was excluded from the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion at the Restoration in 1660. He surrendered himself and was brought to trial. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he died in the Tower of London in December 1663.