George Carew | |
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Born | 29 May 1555 |
Died | 27 March 1629 | (aged 73)
Title | 1st Earl of Totnes (cr.1626) |
Known for | Tudor conquest of Ireland |
Nationality | British |
George Carew, 1st Earl of Totnes (29 May 1555 – 27 March 1629), known as Sir George Carew between 1586 and 1605 and as The Lord Carew between 1605 and 1626, served under Elizabeth I during the Tudor conquest of Ireland and was appointed President of Munster. He was an authority on heraldry and the author of Carew's Scroll of Arms 1588, Collected from Churches in Devonshire etc., with Additions from Joseph Holland's Collection of Arms 1579.
Carew was the son of Dr. George Carew, Dean of Windsor, 3rd son of Sir Edmund Carew, Baron Carew, of Mohuns Ottery in the parish of Luppitt, Devon, by his wife Catharine Huddesfield, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Huddesfield (died 1499) of Shillingford St George in Devon, Attorney-General to Kings Edward IV (1461-1483) and Henry VII (1485–1509). George's mother was Anne Harvey (d.1605), daughter of Sir Nicholas Harvey. Carew succeeded his elder brother Sir Peter Carew (d.1580), who was killed in Ireland in 1580, and inherited the family seat at Upton Hellions, near Crediton, Devon, which he later sold to a member of the Young family.
He attended Broadgates Hall, Oxford, in the years 1564–1573 and was created Master of Arts in 1589. In 1574, Carew entered Crown service in Ireland under his cousin, the controversial Sir Peter Carew, and in the following year volunteered in the army of the lord deputy, Sir Henry Sidney. In 1576 he filled the post of captain of the garrison at Leighlin for a few months, during the absence of his brother, Peter, and was appointed lieutenant governor of county Carlow and vice-constable of Leighlin castle. In 1577, he was awarded a small pension for his courageous and successful attack on the rebel Rory Oge O'More, whose forces had been menacing the castle.