Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
Powys-Lybbe Forbears - Person Sheet
NameSir Alexander Carew Bart 
[67, Carew article, vol II, p. 125], [54, His own article], [56, Cornwall, by J L Vivian, pub 1887, p. 69]
[67, Carew article, vol II, p. 125], [54, His own article], [56, Cornwall, by J L Vivian, pub 1887, p. 69]Birth30 Aug 1609
Baptism1 Sep 1609, Antony, Cornwall
Death23 Dec 1644, Executed on Tower Hill
Burial23 Dec 1644, St Augustine, Hackney
General1st s., 2nd bt. Governor of St Nicholas, Plymouth for Parliamentarians; executed for treason.
FatherSir Richard Carew Bart (ca1580-ca1643)
MotherBridget Chudleigh
Notes for Sir Alexander Carew Bart
Had issue for many generations.
DNB Main notes for Sir Alexander Carew Bart
Carew, Sir Alexander 1609-1644
Name: Carew, Sir Alexander
Dates: 1609-1644
Active Date: 1644
Gender: Male
Field of Interest: Politics, Government and Political Movements
Occupation: Governor of the island of St. Nicholas, Plymouth
Place of
Baptism: Antony
Death: Tower Hill
Burial: Church of St. Augustine, Hackney
Spouse: Jane, daughter of Robert Rolle
Sources: Clarendon's History (1849), iii. 246-7; Rushworth's...
Contributor: W. P. C. [William Prideaux Courtney]
Article
Carew, Sir Alexander 1609-1644, governor of the island of St. Nicholas, Plymouth, was the only surviving son of Richard Carew of Antony in Cornwall, the first baronet of that house, by his first wife, Bridget, daughter of John Chudleigh of Devon. He was born on 30 Aug. 1609, and baptised at Antony on 4 Sept. Lord Clarendon asserts that Carew had received a good education, but it does not appear that he ever matriculated at an English university. In the Long parliament he was returned as the colleague of Sir Bevil Grenville in the representation of the county of Cornwall, and threw in his lot with the opponents of the court. When the bill of attainder of Lord Strafford was being pushed through the House of Commons, Sir Bevil Grenville besought his fellow-member to oppose it, but Carew vehemently replied, `If I were sure to be the next man that should suffer upon the same scaffold with the same axe, I would give my consent to the passing of it.' On the breaking out of civil war he was entrusted by the parliament with the command of the island of St. Nicholas, at the entrance of Plymouth harbour, on which was situate a fort of considerable strength, while the mayor of Plymouth ruled over the castle and the town. When the parliamentary forces in the west of England met with serious reverses, Carew began to think that both his person and his property were insecure, and opened a correspondence, chiefly through the agency of his neighbour, Mr. Edgecumbe, with Sir John Berkeley, then commanding the royal army before Exeter, for the surrender of the island and fort to the king. The historian of the rebellion alleges that although Berkeley gave an ample assurance of safety, Carew would not proceed any further without a pardon under the great seal, and that before this could be obtained his design was discovered through the treachery of a servant. He was suddenly seized while in the fort and carried prisoner into the town, whence he was despatched by sea to London and disabled from sitting in parliament. On Tuesday, 19 Nov. 1644, he was condemned to death for treachery by a council of war held at Guildhall. His wife, Jane, daughter of Robert Rolle of Heanton, Devonshire, by a petition to the House of Commons setting forth her husband's distracted state of mind, obtained a respite of the sentence for a month in order that he might settle his worldly affairs and prepare for death. About ten o'clock in the morning of 23 Dec. 1644 he was brought to the scaffold on Tower Hill. His speech contained a reference to the `last words and writing' of his father and grandfather, and the signal for the executioner to do his duty were `the last words that ever my mother spoke when she died.' He was buried on the same day in the church of St. Augustine, Hackney. His widow died 25 April 1679 in her seventy-fourth year. A monument to her memory, with an elaborate inscription recording her virtues, was erected in Antony Church.
Carew's dying speech was printed separately in 1644, and is included in a collection called `England's Black Tribunall set forth in the Trial of King Charles I,' &c., 1660, pp. 99-100.
Sources
Clarendon's History (1849), iii. 246-7; Rushworth's Historical Collection, pt. iii. bk. ii. pp. 796-7; Heath's Brief Chronicle (1663), pp. 33, 110; Vicars's Parliamentary Chronicle, pt. iii. (1646), p. 29, pt. iv. p. 86; W. Robinson's Hackney, ii. 68; Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub. i. 55, iii. 1109; Parochial History of Cornwall, i. 27.
Contributor: W. P. C.
published 1886
Name: Carew, Sir Alexander
Dates: 1609-1644
Active Date: 1644
Gender: Male
Field of Interest: Politics, Government and Political Movements
Occupation: Governor of the island of St. Nicholas, Plymouth
Place of
Baptism: Antony
Death: Tower Hill
Burial: Church of St. Augustine, Hackney
Spouse: Jane, daughter of Robert Rolle
Sources: Clarendon's History (1849), iii. 246-7; Rushworth's...
Contributor: W. P. C. [William Prideaux Courtney]
Article
Carew, Sir Alexander 1609-1644, governor of the island of St. Nicholas, Plymouth, was the only surviving son of Richard Carew of Antony in Cornwall, the first baronet of that house, by his first wife, Bridget, daughter of John Chudleigh of Devon. He was born on 30 Aug. 1609, and baptised at Antony on 4 Sept. Lord Clarendon asserts that Carew had received a good education, but it does not appear that he ever matriculated at an English university. In the Long parliament he was returned as the colleague of Sir Bevil Grenville in the representation of the county of Cornwall, and threw in his lot with the opponents of the court. When the bill of attainder of Lord Strafford was being pushed through the House of Commons, Sir Bevil Grenville besought his fellow-member to oppose it, but Carew vehemently replied, `If I were sure to be the next man that should suffer upon the same scaffold with the same axe, I would give my consent to the passing of it.' On the breaking out of civil war he was entrusted by the parliament with the command of the island of St. Nicholas, at the entrance of Plymouth harbour, on which was situate a fort of considerable strength, while the mayor of Plymouth ruled over the castle and the town. When the parliamentary forces in the west of England met with serious reverses, Carew began to think that both his person and his property were insecure, and opened a correspondence, chiefly through the agency of his neighbour, Mr. Edgecumbe, with Sir John Berkeley, then commanding the royal army before Exeter, for the surrender of the island and fort to the king. The historian of the rebellion alleges that although Berkeley gave an ample assurance of safety, Carew would not proceed any further without a pardon under the great seal, and that before this could be obtained his design was discovered through the treachery of a servant. He was suddenly seized while in the fort and carried prisoner into the town, whence he was despatched by sea to London and disabled from sitting in parliament. On Tuesday, 19 Nov. 1644, he was condemned to death for treachery by a council of war held at Guildhall. His wife, Jane, daughter of Robert Rolle of Heanton, Devonshire, by a petition to the House of Commons setting forth her husband's distracted state of mind, obtained a respite of the sentence for a month in order that he might settle his worldly affairs and prepare for death. About ten o'clock in the morning of 23 Dec. 1644 he was brought to the scaffold on Tower Hill. His speech contained a reference to the `last words and writing' of his father and grandfather, and the signal for the executioner to do his duty were `the last words that ever my mother spoke when she died.' He was buried on the same day in the church of St. Augustine, Hackney. His widow died 25 April 1679 in her seventy-fourth year. A monument to her memory, with an elaborate inscription recording her virtues, was erected in Antony Church.
Carew's dying speech was printed separately in 1644, and is included in a collection called `England's Black Tribunall set forth in the Trial of King Charles I,' &c., 1660, pp. 99-100.
Sources
Clarendon's History (1849), iii. 246-7; Rushworth's Historical Collection, pt. iii. bk. ii. pp. 796-7; Heath's Brief Chronicle (1663), pp. 33, 110; Vicars's Parliamentary Chronicle, pt. iii. (1646), p. 29, pt. iv. p. 86; W. Robinson's Hackney, ii. 68; Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornub. i. 55, iii. 1109; Parochial History of Cornwall, i. 27.
Contributor: W. P. C.
published 1886