Biography

Temple was born in Santa Maura, one of the Ionian Islands. A fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, he was ordained a priest in 1847. He was an advocate of educational reform and schooling for the poor, and from 1848 to 1857 he worked in the government education department.

He was appointed headmaster of Rugby in 1857. An essay published in the controversial Essays and Reviews (1860) awakened suspicions that Temple leaned toward radicalism. When Gladstone nominated him (1869) to the bishopric of Exeter there was much protest. However, he was consecrated in that year and in 1885 was made bishop of London.

In his later years he was often in conflict with the High Church party. In 1896 he was created archbishop of Canterbury, and a year later he and the archbishop of York issued the official rebuttal to the papal encyclical that denied the validity of Anglican orders. His works include The Relations Between Religion and Science (1885).