As the war progressed, Temple was promoted to colonel and became governor of Tilbury Fort in Essex, a post that had previously been held by his father. The fort was close to Temple's childhood home at Longhouse Place and was of strategic importance because it controlled the approach to London by river. During the Second Civil War, there were Royalist uprisings in Kent and Essex. Temple's control of Tilbury Fort for Parliament enabled Lord Fairfax's troops to cross from Gravesend to Tilbury en route to Colchester for the siege of royalists in that town.