Early Life
Born the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Francis Templer and Mabel Eileen Templer (née Johnston) and educated at Wellington College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Templer was commissioned into his father's regiment, the Royal Irish Fusiliers, on 16 August 1916 and fought in World War I. Promoted to lieutenant on 16 February 1918, he was a reserve for the Olympic team as a 120 yard hurdler in 1924 before transferring to the Loyal (North Lancashire) Regiment on promotion to captain on 11 August 1928. He became a staff officer with the 3rd Division on Salisbury Plain in 1931 and a staff officer at Headquarters Northern Command in York in 1933 before returning to his Regiment to be a company commander at Tidworth in April 1935. In 1936 he was deployed to Palestine during the Arab revolt there for which he was awarded the DSO on 6 November 1936. He was promoted to major on 1 August 1938 and posted to the War Office as a staff officer in military intelligence.
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