Alexander Carew

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Alexander Carew on the painting by an unknown artist

Sir Alexander Carew, 2nd Baronet (born August 30, 1608 or August 30, 1609 , † December 23, 1644 in London ) was an English nobleman, politician and military. During the English Civil War , he was executed by the supporters of Parliament for conspiracy.

origin

Alexander Carew was born into the Carew von Antony family , a respected Cornish gentry family . He was the second but eldest surviving son of Richard Carew and his first wife Bridget Chudleigh. His Puritan father is said to have brought up his children carefully, but it appears that Alexander did not attend university. From March 18, 1628 he learned law at the Middle Temple in London.

Role during the English Civil War

Supporters of parliament

As a Puritan, Carew became a determined supporter of parliament in its dispute with King Charles I. Although Carew's father was also a Puritan, he had held back politically since 1624, which led to an estrangement between father and son. In addition, his father was raised by the king to Baronet , of Antony in the County of Cornwall in 1641 . In the general election in November 1640, Carew was elected Knight of the Shire for Cornwall along with Bevil Grenville . As Knight of the Shire, Carew was of high symbolic value for the parliamentary party during the long parliament , accordingly he became a member of 22 parliamentary committees. His colleague Grenville, who politically supported the king, urged Carew in 1641 not to approve the Bill of Attainder against the royal confidante Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford . Carew is said to have replied:

"If I were sure to be the next man that should suffer upon the same scaffold with the same ax, I would give my consent to the passing of it."

"Even if I were sure that I would be the next man to be beheaded on the same scaffold with the same ax, I would be okay with the law."

This reply shows Carew as a staunch supporter of parliament, but also that he tried unscrupulously to gain popularity. Like several other MPs from Cornwall, especially Francis Rous , he is said to have been particularly hostile to the bishops. In July 1642 he was to convene the militia for the side of Parliament together with three other MPs in Cornwall . However, the attempted Royalists in Cornwall, a squad set up. Carew and the other parliamentarians could not convince Judge Robert Foster during an Assize Court in August 1642 to forbid the formation of this entourage. Shortly after Carew's father died and he inherited his property and title, he was appointed a member of the Sequestration Committee on March 27, 1643, which was to separate Cornwall from royal administration. To do this, he became governor of the Island of St Nicholas , an island fortress that dominated the approach to the strategically important port of Plymouth .

The strategically important fortress island of Drake's Island, of which Carew was governor during the Civil War

Failed to change sides and execution

In July 1643, Carew led the parliamentary troops intended to relieve the besieged Exeter , but was thrown back by siege forces under John Berkeley . When the royal troops also conquered Bristol and advanced further into south-west England, Carew began to doubt whether the supporters of Parliament could still win the war. Through his neighbor, the royal Colonel Piers Edgcumbe, who is related to him, and through William Scawen, he contacted Berkeley and offered him a change of sides and the handover of the island fortress of St Nicholas. Although Berkeley promised him firmly that he would not be prosecuted for his previous support of Parliament, Carew demanded further promises that he would be pardoned. Before he could receive this, however, he was betrayed by a servant and arrested on August 19, 1643. By resolution of the House of Commons , he was removed from office on September 4, 1643 and his seat in parliament was stripped from him. He was taken to London by ship and imprisoned in the Tower on December 5, 1643 . On November 19, 1644, he was finally tried in the Guildhall before a court-martial. After hearing several witnesses, including the Mayor of Plymouth, the court, presided over by John Corbet , sentenced him to death for conspiracy . Carew's wife asked for a pardon and was given a month on November 25 to sort out his affairs. Another petition for clemency was rejected on December 21st. On the morning of December 23, 1644, Carew was beheaded on Tower Hill . He walked calmly on the scaffold, his speech before his execution was printed on a leaflet. He was buried that same day in St Augustine's Church in Hackney .

Aftermath

Carew's support for Parliament during the English Civil War is said to have angered royalist relatives of him so much that a portrait of him was cut out of the frame in Antony House and stowed in the basement. However, after he was executed as a traitor by parliament, he was considered a royalist martyr, whereupon the picture was later repaired with rough engravings and hung.

Family and offspring

In 1631 Carew had married Jane Rolle, a daughter of Robert Rolle of Heanton , Devon . He had several children with her, including:

His heir became his underage son, John. Carew's widow survived him by almost 35 years, she only died in 1679.

Literature and web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b ODNB
  2. ↑ George Edward Cokayne (Ed.): The Complete Baronetage. Reprint, Volume 2, Alan Sutton Publishing, Gloucester 1983, 125.
  3. ^ The National Trust: Antony, Cornwall . The National Trust 2010. ISBN 978-1-84359-015-6 , p. 30
  4. ^ The National Trust: Antony, Cornwall . The National Trust 2010. ISBN 978-1-84359-015-6 , p. 30
predecessor Office successor
Richard Carew Baronet (of Antony)
1643-1644 		John Carew
personal data
SURNAME Carew, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Carew, Sir Alexander, 2nd Baronet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman, politician and military man
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1608 or August 30, 1609
DATE OF DEATH December 23, 1644
Place of death London