Thomas Temple
1567–1661
Vicar of Battersea; one of the senior members; lived to 94.
Biography
Of Lincoln College Oxford, then Battersea vicarage from 1634 — coming to it in his late sixties from a career in Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire ministries. Temple was an elderly Presbyterian at the Assembly's opening — seventy-six in 1643, the second-oldest active member after William Gouge — and his contributions were minor but loyal. He was ejected at Battersea in 1660 and died the following year in retirement, aged ninety-four — likely the longest-lived active Assembly member.
English Presbyterian divine
The great majority of the sitting members were English parish ministers of Presbyterian conviction. They formed the drafting core of the Assembly, manning its three standing committees and supplying most of the text of the Confession, the two Catechisms, and the Directory for Public Worship.