James Templer (canal builder)

He was the eldest son and heir of James Templer (1722–1782), of Stover House, Teigngrace, Devon, a self-made magnate who had made his fortune building dockyards.[2]

Map showing some relevant features

Templer was a Master in the Crown Office at London.[2] He inherited the Stover estate in 1782, and began construction of a new church at Teigngrace, built in the local granite from quarries at Hay Tor.[3] This was completed in 1787,[4] and his brother Rev. John Templer (1751-1832) of Lindridge House was the first rector of the church. The mining of ball clay 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,[5] for onward transportation by barge down the river estuary to the port of Teignmouth on the coast.

In 1776 he married Mary Buller (1749-1829),[6] third daughter of James Buller (1717-1765)[7] of Downes, Crediton, Member of Parliament for East Looe in Cornwall (1741-7) and for the County of Cornwall (1748-1765). They had children, including:

• George Templer (1781–1843), son and heir, who inherited the Stover estate and built the Haytor Granite Tramway.[8]
• Charlotte Frances Templer (d.1875[9]), who married twice, firstly in 1811[10] to Capt. Richard Dalling Dunn (1767-1813), Royal Navy, whose mural monument survives in Teigngrace Church. Her second marriage was in 1819 to Capt. Charles Richard Acland (1793-1828), Royal Navy, 3rd son of Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 9th Baronet (1752–1794), of Killerton House in Devon. He died from blackwater fever off Simondstown, South Africa.[11] The marriage was without progeny[9]

Templer died aged 65 on 21 June 1813,[3] and is commemorated by a Coade stone monument in Teigngrace church.[12]