Robert Templeton

Robert Templeton (12 December 1802 – 2 June 1892) was a naturalist, artist, and entomologist, and was born at Cranmore House, Belfast, Ireland.

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.