11. John Ridley Temperley 1846 [1280]

PARENT 10. William Angus Temperley 1820 [829]

JOHN RIDLEY TEMPERLEY was born in Hexham, Northumberland in 1846 (1st qtr Hexham). He was a Civil and Mechanical Engineer.

John emigrated to Australia in 1868 aboard the 'Great Britain' arriving in February of that year. He married SELINA ELIZABETH WATT in Victoria, Australia in 1874 ( 1426).

Selina was born circa 1849 in Glasgow, Scotland and had emigrated to Australia with her family at age 2 in November 1852 aboard the 'Lady Eveline'.

John and Selina returned to England in June of 1874 aboard the ' Northumberland' before once again returning to Australia in 1875 John is recorded on the passenger list of the the 'Northumberland' in 1875 arriving with a Jane Temperley , aged 25. I am unsure of who Jane is at this stage as I have been unable to place her within the family.

I have as yet, been unable to locate Selina on a return shipping list but she evidently did return as their first child was born in Australia the next year.

John (and presumably Selina) returned to England in December 1880 aboard the 'Potosii' which travelled to England via Adelaide and the Suez Canal.

Selina died in Kent in 1903 (4th qtr Bromley), aged 54 and John died in Chelsea in 1934 ( 3rd qtr Chelsea), aged 88.

Children of JOHN & SELINA TEMPERLEY

i. ETHEL VERONICA TEMPERLEY was born in St Kilda, Victoria in 1876 (19535). She married ALGERNON C. JEFFCOAT in 1910 (4th qtr St George Hanover Sq)

ii. HAROLD RIDLEY TEMPERLEY was born in St Kilda, Victoria in 1880 (18989) He married in 1922 to MARGURITE LUCY KATE SUGDEN, (3rd qtr St George) Marguertie had previously been married in 1910 to ROBERT E.S. PEARCE. She was born in 1888 (1st qtr Ashby Z)

iii. ARTHUR RIDLEY TEMPERLEY was born in Kent in 1888 ( 1st qtr Medway). he enlisted in the Northumberland Fusiliers during World War 1 and served as Private 2153 of the 1st/6th Battalion. He was killed in action on the 26th of August 1914, aged 26. He was interred in the Darlington Crematorium.

Information supplied by Michael Kitson

I have been interested in John Ridley Temperley’s life for some time. This was focussed on the period he was associated with the engineer Louis Brennan from 1888 to 1892 in developing the Brennan Torpedo. I spent some 15 years researching Louis Brennan’s life and work, which became the subject of a PhD thesis completed in 2000.

I may have some information about Temperley’s work at Chatham on the Brennan torpedo that is new to you. He was Louis Brennan’s business partner in the Brennan Torpedo Company here in Australia and returned with him to U.K. to represent the B.T.C. as their manager. They travelled to U.K. in late December 1880 aboard the SS Potosi intending to sell the invention and took the patented torpedo with them. The War Office, which was already aware of the invention, became interested in using the torpedo as a coastal defence weapon, thus initially they worked with the Royal Engineers at Chatham to perfect, carry out trials and sell the Brennan Torpedo to the War Office.

By 1886, when its trials were completed, the Brennan Torpedo, could be launched from a torpedo station ashore and accurately directed, underwater, to its target at a speed of 30 knots. It had a range of up to 2,000 yards and carried enough explosive to sink any armoured ship which existed.

The shell of the patented torpedo they had brought from Australia and also one of the final service torpedoes are held by the Royal Engineers Museum at Brompton Barracks, Chatham.

In 1887 the torpedo was purchased by H. M. Government for £110,000 an amount, said to be the greatest ever paid for a weapon, which was divided among the shareholders of the Brennan Torpedo Company, including J R Temperley. In addition, he was offered employment at a salary of £1,200 pa to assist Brennan with future developmental work for the torpedo and the Torpedo Stations from which it was to be controlled and fired.

Under the requirements for secrecy about the weapon, both of them were placed under substantial bonds (of £10,000 each) if they, or any of their staff, revealed the secret of its operation. A further condition was that they must live within 15 miles of Chatham.

Probably Temperley contributed significantly to the design of the torpedo stations as his signature appears on some plans for them, for instance on one for Fort Tigne in Malta (24/4/1890).

Secrecy about the torpedo was remarkably well enforced during and even long after, the period the torpedo remained in service, and today a key component in its operation, the depth mechanism, still remains unknown. The torpedo kept a steady depth as it was guided to its target, and it is possible from some references to it that this depth and steering mechanism may have included a gyroscope. If this was so it constitutes the first practical use of a gyroscope.

In 1892 Temperley did not renew his contract with the W.O., perhaps because he was earning more substantial sums than his salary by acting as an agent for Millar Bros (who had previously backed Brennan and held the major shares in the Brennan Torpedo Co.). By 1892 they had expanded to Western Australia, with interests in Africa as well. Temperley supplied them with railway equipment (probably including locomotives). In addition to this the War Office contract required him to continue to live within 15 miles of Chatham and I think that by this date the work surrounding the torpedo had become less demanding.

I have found very little information about J R Temperley after 1892, although there is some information on the web about Temperley Overhead Transporters, patented by him with others (1899 & 1898). Interestingly there are similarities between these and the carriage of a Travelling Universal Pulley used in the Torpedo Stations.

I am keen to follow up details about his family because it is certain he, amongst only eight others, knew how the torpedo kept its depth: a secret so closely guarded that it is now lost. One always hopes papers and letters etc. may have survived in family collections, which may hold slight references and supply small clues. So far I have found only the basic material on J R Temperley’s life in U.K.., which I am sure are already well known to your circle of researchers and genealogists, but perhaps they may know of sources, which would help us to discover the torpedo’s remaining secret.