Sir John Temple, 8th Baronet (1731 – 17 November 1798) was the first British consul-general to the United States and the first British diplomat to have been born in what later became the United States. He was sometimes known as (but not universally acknowledged to be) Sir John Temple, 8th Baronet.
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Early life
John Temple was born in Boston in 1731. His father, Robert Temple (1694–1754), was a captain in the British army, and his mother was Mehitabel Nelson (1691–1775) of Boston.
Career
In 1762, he was appointed lieutenant governor of the Province of New Hampshire and surveyor general of customs.
Temple was politically aligned with the populist faction in Massachusetts politics, and strongly opposed to the domination of colonial rule by Thomas Hutchinson and the Oliver family. Temple may have played a role in the Hutchinson letters affair of 1773 that inflamed political tensions in Massachusetts and led to the recall of Hutchinson, who was then governor of the province.