Thomas Carew (politician, 1664)

Thomas Carew (* uncertain: baptized March 31, 1664 ; † April 7, 1705 ) was an English politician and officer who was elected three times as a member of the House of Commons .

Origin and education

Thomas Carew came from a branch of the Carew family , a widely ramified gentry family . He was the eldest surviving son of his father of the same name, Sir Thomas Carew and his wife Elizabeth Cupper . His father was a younger son of Richard Carew, 1st Baronet of Antony , Cornwall, and had made a career as a lawyer and politician in Barley with Exeter . After his father's death in 1681, Carew inherited his estate near Exeter. From 1684 he learned law at the Middle Temple .

Career as a military and politician

Before 1690 Carew was under the command of the 1st Earl of Bath officer in the 10th Regiment of Foot , which was mainly recruited in Cornwall. He was promoted to captain before moving to Northcote's Regiment as a major in 1694 . However, this regiment was dissolved after the Peace of Rijswijk in 1697 and Carew received only half pay from then on . On March 22, 1701, Carew was elected to the House of Commons in a by-election in Saltash . He probably owed his election to the influence of his cousin Richard Carew, 4th Baronet from Antony, whose interests he should represent politically. He was re-elected in the general election in December 1701 and July 28, 1702. In the House of Commons he was counted among the Tories , but he was barely able to attend the meetings, as he was again an active soldier due to the War of the Spanish Succession . As a major in the 31st Regiment of Foot , he took part in the raid on Cádiz and the naval battle at Vigo . In 1703 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel . In 1704 he again took part in the meetings of the House of Commons, and although he was considered a Tory, on November 28, 1704 he voted against a property tax, the so-called tack . He died a few months later and was buried in St Thomas the Apostle's Church in Exeter. He had remained unmarried and bequeathed most of his property to his younger brother Richard.

Web links

• Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley: CAREW, Thomas (1664-1705), of Barley, no. Exeter, Devon (History of Parliament Online, Ref Volumes: 1690-1715)