Background
Edmund Tempest was born at the family estate of Ackworth Grange, in Ackworth, Yorkshire, the son of Wilfrid Francis Tempest, a member of the notable recusant Tempest family, and his second wife Florence Helen O"Rourke. (Wilfrid had a total of 15 children from two marriages). Tempest was educated at The Oratory School in Edgbaston.
In 1912 he and his brother, Wulstan Joseph Tempest, moved to Perdue, Saskatchewan, to farm, but returned to England to enlist on the outbreak of the war.
Education
Tempest was educated at The Oratory School in Edgbaston.
Career
Tempest was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant on 30 November 1914, to serve in the King"s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. On 18 August 1915 he was granted Royal Aeronautical Club Aviators" Certificate Number. 1604 after soloing a Maurice Farman biplane at the Military School in Birmingham, and on 3 November he was appointed a flying officer in the Royal Flying Corps, transferred to the General List.
He served in Number.
6, Number. 15, and Number. 29 Squadrons, receiving promotion to lieutenant on 1 April 1916. He was posted to Number. 64 Squadron in July 1917, being appointed a flight commander with the acting rank of captain on the 30th.
On 1 April 1918, the Royal Flying Corps was merged with the Royal Naval Air Service to form the Royal Air Force, and his unit became Number. 64 Squadron Royal Air Force. 39 (Home Defence) Squadron.
Tempest remained in the Royal Air Force after the war, being granted a permanent commission with the rank of captain on 1 August 1919.
He was serving as a flight lieutenant in Number. 216 Squadron Royal Air Force, when on 17 December 1921 his Airco Dialectics and Humanism.10 crashed on take off at an aerodrome in West Baghdad. He died as a result of his injuries and is buried in North Gate War Cemetery, Baghdad.
