Bampfylde Moore Carew

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bamfylde Moore Carew. Portrait of Richard Phelps from 1750 .

Bampfylde Moore Carew (* July 1693 in Bickleigh , † August 27, 1759 in Tiverton ) was a British impostor. Numerous books and writings have been published about his life, so that he was considered a folk hero in England in the 18th and 19th centuries.

origin

Bampfylde Carew came from a branch of the Carew family from Haccombe . He was born the third child of Theodore Carew , the longtime rector of Tiverton in nearby Bickleigh . In July 1693 he was baptized, while he was named after his godparents, Hugh Bampfylde and a major Moore . From the age of twelve, Bampfylde attended the Tiverton School , where he learned Latin and Greek.

Life as a tramp and impostor

When Carew was about fifteen years old, Carew and three of his classmates hunted a deer with hunting dogs. During the hunt, they caused great damage to the almost ripe grain in several fields. To avoid the angry farmers and punishment, Carew ran away from Tiverton and joined a group of gypsies . After about a year and a half, Carew returned to his parents' house, but a little later he began to cheat on his father's and his father's friends. Eventually he emigrated to Newfoundland . A short time later he returned to England, where he worked as a seaman on a ship during the return voyage. Back in England, he fell in love with the daughter of a respected pharmacist from Newcastle upon Tyne , who left her parents' house for him and whom he later married. However, Carew soon left his wife and began a wandering life again. When the gypsy leader Clause Patch died, his clan Carew chose as his successor and crowned him king of the beggars . Then, however, a judge in Exeter sentenced him to deportation and seven years of forced labor in Maryland as a lazy vagabond . On his arrival in America, Carew tried to escape, but he was caught again and marked with an iron collar. Nevertheless, he fled again and met Indians who loosened his collar. Then he traveled on to Pennsylvania . Pretending to be a Quaker , he traveled via Philadelphia and New York to Boston , from where he embarked again for England. On the way he should to serve in the Royal Navy pressed be, but he pricked his hands and his face bloody, she rubbed one with gunpowder and salt and so deceived the pox before. In England Carew appeared again as a con man, in the process he found his wife, who had had a daughter from him, again. Apparently he was in Scotland around 1745 during the Jacobite Rising, where he was in Carlisle and Derby in the wake of the Young Pretender .

Last years

Few confirmed facts are known about Carew's later life. His relative, Sir Thomas Carew from Haccombe, offered to pay for his living if he gave up his vagabond life. Obviously, Carew initially turned down this offer, but then he is said to have won money in a lottery and returned to Devon , where he spent his final years.

Aftermath

So incredible were Carew's adventures that even in his lifetime he was known as a master of deception and disguise far beyond his Devonian homeland. His experiences were first published in 1745. Even if the veracity of these writings, which were probably based on his own reports, was doubtful in many respects, 30 more books and new editions of Carew's life were published by the end of the 18th century, so that he into the early 20th century in Great Britain was seen as a folk hero. His popularity was based on the fact that Carew, as an educated member of the gentry , decided of his own free will to lead a life apart from society.

Web links

Commons : Bampfylde Moore Carew  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Devon Perspectives: Bampfylde Moore Carew: the final years. Retrieved February 22, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Carew, Bampfylde Moore
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English cheater and folk hero
DATE OF BIRTH July 1693
PLACE OF BIRTH Bickleigh
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 1759
Place of death Tiverton (Devon)