Robert Templeton - Life and Work

Life and Work

Robert Templeton was the son of John Templeton, and was educated in Belfast Academical Institution, which was in part his father's creation. In 1821 he left Ireland for Edinburgh, Scotland to study medicine and following graduation practised in the University hospital.In the same year he became a Member of the Belfast Natural History Society. In 1833 (6 May) he was commissioned as Assistant Surgeon in the Royal Artillery, initially stationed at the Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich, close to London, England.

In 1834, Templeton was stationed to Mauritius and in 1835 to Rio de Janeiro and Recife. From Rio (1835) he took ship to Colombo, Ceylon, via the Cape of Good Hope and in this year became a Corresponding Member of the Zoological Society of London. A brief sojourn in Ceylon was followed by a stay in Malta (1836). Later in 1836 he moved on to Corfu and Albania. In all these places Templeton collected insects and other invertebrates and in 1839 he became a Corresponding Member of the Entomological Society of London.

A twelve year stay in Ceylon (1839–1851) followed, and in 1847 Templeton was promoted from Assistant Surgeon to Surgeon.In these years at various times he visited Southern India - Madras, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka- and twice Northern India Uttarakhand and Kashmir. Recalled from Ceylon in 1852 due to the unrest in Europe which was to erupt in the bloody and terrible Crimean War, he served in the Crimea from March 1854–1856 and was promoted to Surgeon-Major on 7 December 1855. He retired with the honorary rank of Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals on 31 January 1860.