Research Notes:

son and heir, aged 30 years and more at his father's death, in 9 Hen. V. (1422) conveyed his estates in trust to Roger Heron and others, and dying 4 Sept. 1432, left the manor of Norbury with the Bedington estate to his widow (Murcia, daughter of Stephen Heyme) for two years from his death, paying to his heir 40s. per annum and from after the two years, one third of the two estates as dower for life. ¹

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Nicholas, son of Nicholas de Carew who died in 1391, was sheriff of Surrey in the 15th of of Richard II and again in the 2nd of Henry IV. He also represented this county in several parliaments. In the 9th of Henry V (1422), he made a settlement of his estates; from which it appears that he had manors and possession in, at least, eighteen different parishes in Surrey. Dying in 1432, he bequeathed the manor of Beddington to Nicholas, his second son. ²

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From The History of Parliament... (website) ³

Offices Held

Sheriff, Surr. and Suss. 21 Oct. 1391-18 Oct. 1392, 24 Nov. 1400-8 Nov. 1401.

Commr. of array, Surr. Mar. 1392, Dec. 1399, Jan. 1400, July 1402, Aug., Sept. 1403, July 1419; inquiry, Surr., Suss. Mar. 1392 (concealments), Surr. Mar. 1395, Apr. 1400 (escaped prisoner), June 1406 (concealments), Dec. 1406 (wastes), Suss. Aug. 1408 (ownership of the manor of Heyshott) Surr. Feb. 1415 (concealments),2 Surr., Suss. Feb. 1419 (escapes and concealments); oyer and terminer Apr. 1392 (treasure trove), Surr. Oct. 1398 (thefts from Battle abbey estates), Suss. Feb. 1420 (treasons and felonies); to survey highways, Surr. Dec. 1392, Mar. 1394 (Egham area); of gaol delivery, Guildford Apr. 1394; to seize the estates of the Lords Appellant of 1387-8, Surr., Suss. Oct. 1397; of kiddles, Mdx., Surr. June 1398, Surr. bef. July 1401, Surr., Kent Nov. 1403 London Bridge to Greenwich Nov. 1405; to prevent the spread of treasonous rumours May 1402; seize the lands of Sir Thomas West, Suss. July 1405; raise a royal loan, Surr., Hants Sept. 1405, June 1406, Surr. Nov. 1419, Jan. 1420; restore the goods of Thomas, earl of Arundel Feb. 1411; assess a tax, Surr. Jan. 1412.

J.P. Surr. 18 June 1394-Mar. 1413, 28 Oct. 1417-Dec. 1431, Suss. 27 July-Nov. 1397, 3 Feb. 1400-3.

Escheator, Surr. and Suss. 12 Nov. 1403-24 Nov. 1404, 9 Nov. 1406-2 Nov. 1407.

Tax collector, Surr. Sept. 1405.

Keeper of the estates of Bermondsey abbey 11 May 1400-aft. 12 July 1410.

Biography

Carew belonged to an old and distinguished family of Norman descent with strong Irish as well as English connexions. He was a kinsman of the influential Devonshire Carews, although his immediate ancestors lived in Berkshire and it was only during his father’s lifetime that the extensive Surrey estates which made up over half his inheritance were acquired. Nicholas Carew the elder played a prominent part in county society, representing Surrey twice in Parliament and serving on many local commissions. His main interests lay, however, at Court. He rose to become keeper of the privy seal in 1371; and his last years were largely given over to his duties as a feoffee and executor of Edward III. The subject of this biography was born in about 1356, and may well have married some 18 years later, when the Berkshire landowner, Sir Thomas de la Mare, settled his manor of Aldermaston upon various members of the Carew family for life. Nicholas’s wife, Isabel, the daughter of Alice de la Mare of Delamers in Hertfordshire, was quite probably related to Sir Thomas; and it was certainly through her that Carew established a connexion with John Ludwick who became her stepfather during the 1380s. Meanwhile, from 1377 onwards, the young Nicholas Carew was a party to the numerous enfeoffments of property made by and for his father, so that on the latter’s death, in 1390, he gained undisputed possession of a substantial inheritance, most of which came to him through his mother, Lucy Willoughby, whose first husband, Sir Thomas Huscarle, left her his Berkshire and Surrey estates. Thus, by the date of his first return to Parliament, our Member enjoyed a landed income of at least £91 a year (and probably far more), derived from the manors of Beddington, Huscarle, Norbury, Carshalton, Woodmansterne, Carews in Warlingham and Nutfield, together with land in Hoe, Chesham, Sanderstead, Horne, Burstow, Mitcham, Coulsdon and Bensham, Surrey; from property in Gravesend and the manors of Stoke in Hoo and Maytham, Kent (although revenues from Stoke had been set aside for the upkeep of a chantry); and from Great Purley, Fulscot and Charlton in Wantage, as well as tenements in Tullwick and other parts of Berkshire.4 Carew appears to have consolidated his holdings in Surrey over the next few years, so that by 1412 this part of his estates alone was said to be worth £80 a year. His marriage to Mercy, the daughter of Stephen Hayme, which took place in, or before, July 1398, brought him the manors of Hyde and Sulham in Berkshire. On her death, over 50 years later, Mercy Carew held the manor of ‘Pery’ in Harmondsworth, Middlesex, together with property in the London parish of Holy Trinity Aldgate, although these estates do not appear to have come into Carew’s hands until the end of his life, if then. It was, however, through his second wife that he acquired land and rents in the Hampshire villages of Forton and Otterbourne, since the Haymes had strong connexions with this part of the country, and Mercy’s father had represented Winchester in Parliament. The tax returns of 1412 show our MP to have been in receipt of £158 6s.8d. a year from his various properties, over and above the estimated £80 p.a. which was made over to him as a trustee of the Tregoz estates in Sussex. Carew became a feoffee-to-uses of John Tregoz in 1400, and administered his inheritance from 1404 until about 1428, fighting at least two protracted lawsuits to retain control of the three manors involved. He showed great concern, meanwhile, for the future of his own estates, and made a series of settlements upon feoffees, the first of which, begun on his second marriage, was to safeguard the title of his son and heir Nicholas. Over the years 1420 and 1421, and again in 1430, he conveyed most of his possessions to trustees, including John Gaynesford, thus creating an impressive jointure for his widow. Her interests were indeed considerable, for by 1428 the Carews had obtained seisin of the manor of Studham in Berkshire as well as further holdings near their home at Beddington. They are also known to have become landowners in Hertfordshire at some point before 1420, possibly acquiring the property in and around King’s Langley and King’s Walden which Nicholas Carew the younger held some 15 years later.

Unlike his father, Carew never played a prominent part in national affairs, although he was active as a crown servant in the south east for almost 30 years of his life. He was occasionally called upon to perform the duties of a mainpernor and feoffee-to-uses while his father was alive, but it was not until the latter’s death that he became really involved in the local community. His administrative career began with his appointment as sheriff of Surrey and Sussex, and from then onwards he served regularly on royal commissions as well as sitting on the bench. In January 1393 he was rewarded with a grant of the farm of the manor of Croham in Croydon, for which he paid 40s. a year. We do not know why Carew and John Bonet bound themselves to pay 200 marks to Thomas Ickham and others in the following November, but the transaction may well have concerned Carew’s extensive dealings in the property market. During the next two decades he was constantly preoccupied with litigation, for in addition to the cases fought by him as a trustee, he both brought and defended a number of personal actions at the local assizes. These concerned the ownership of property in Surrey, and one, over land in Mersham, resulted in his being awarded damages totalling 92 marks. He also appeared fairly regularly at Westminster as the plaintiff in suits for debt and trespass, although none of these seem to have reached a verdict. When, in November 1413, he quarrelled with the London mercer, John Lane, he agreed to accept the arbitration of four distinguished aldermen, offering securities of 1,000 marks as a guarantee of his readiness to abide by their decision.

Notwithstanding the fact that he sat in the two Parliaments of 1397 and was a commissioner for the confiscation of the lands of the Lords Appellant of 1388, Carew’s sympathies were sufficiently Lancastrian for him to find favour with the recently crowned Henry IV. He began a second term as sheriff in November 1400 - having already been re-appointed to the Sussex bench - and went on to become escheator of Surrey and Sussex. In October 1402 he was approached for a ‘benevolence’; and soon afterwards the Crown requested a personal contribution of 200 marks towards the cost of coastal defence. His support for the new regime also found practical expression in a loan of £100 which he advanced in July 1406, and recovered in the following year. No more money was borrowed from him by the government until June 1417, when he lent £40 towards Henry V’s second invasion of France. Carew was, meanwhile, chosen to represent Surrey at the great councils of 1401 and 1403, and it is clear that he was then regarded as one of the leading gentry of the shire. No doubt because of his social position, he was able to establish many influential connexions. He often acted as a mainpernor in Chancery and at the Exchequer, most notably for his fellow MPs, John Gravesend, the above-mentioned John Ludwick and the latter’s friend, John Durham (in 1399), and Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester (in 1420). As we have already seen, many people wished to make Carew their feoffee-to-uses. He performed this service for Thomas, earl of Arundel (d. 1415) and thus became involved in a dispute with John Wintershall over the title to certain property in Surrey. Another quarrel with the widowed countess of Arundel dragged on for a while, but in February 1419 she surrendered bonds worth £1,000 to Carew and his co-feoffees in pledge of her acceptance of the dower settlement made upon her. One of the earl’s other associates was Ralph Cuddington, who gave evidence on Carew’s behalf at this time and made him his executor shortly before he died in 1421. It was evidently through their mutual attachment to Arundel that Carew struck up a friendship with Sir Thomas Sackville II and Richard Wayville. He and Sackville acted as each other’s trustees; and both men were named, along with Robert, Lord Poynings, as supervisors of Wayville’s last will, in which Carew received a bequest of a rosary. The latter was also on very close terms with Sir Thomas Lewknor, his reputed son-in-law, whom he chose as a feoffee and as the supervisor of his own executors.

Although he remained on the Surrey bench until a few months before his death, Carew may otherwise be said to have retired from public life in about 1420. He and John Clipsham helped settle a local property dispute at the beginning of the year, but apart from his attendance at the elections held in Guildford for the Parliament of May 1421, he had little else to do with government at any level. In April 1423 he was given custody of part of the manor of Burton Stacey in Hampshire, perhaps as a final reward for years of loyal service to the Crown. Carew died on 4 Sept. 1432, ‘senex et plenus dierum’, and was buried at Beddington, next to his first wife, Isabel.... Only three of the 17 or more children of his two marriages appear to have survived him, the bulk of his estates having been settled previously upon Nicholas, his eldest son. The latter faced immediate problems over the administration of his father’s will, and also seems to have quarrelled with his stepmother, the widowed Mercy Carew, over the allocation of her dower. She died in the spring of 1453, having taken Arthur Ormesby of London as her second husband. Carew’s descendants became involved in a bitter and protracted dispute with his feoffees over the custody of his property, which was eventually divided between his grand daughters.

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The Will of Nicholas Carew, written 28 Aug 1432 ⁴

To all Christian men, Nicholas Carew ', the older Lord of Bedyngton, greeting, in God everlasting.

Be it known to all men, that I, Nicholas Carew aforesaid, the Wednesday afore the Feast of Decollation of St. John the Baptist, the year of the reign of King Harry the Sixth after the Conquest the tenth, declare and notify by this present writing my will of all my manors, advowsons, warrens, chauntries, lands, and tenements, which I have other any man to mine use, wherefore I charge and pray mine executors and feoffees to perform my will that ensueth touching these manors, advowsons, and porrons, chauntries, lands, and tenements, abovesaid.

First, my will is, that Mary [sic], my wife, have and enjoy all the manors, advowsons, lands, &c. whereof there is a fine levied, after the effect of the said fine, peaceably, without interruption of me, mine heirs, and my feoffees ; also, I will that the foresaid Mary have and enjoy to her, and to her heirs in fee for evermore to sell and dispose for her and me and our ancestors the manor of Per . . ., with all the appurtenances in the shire of Middlesex, and all the lands, &c. which be in the shires of Hampshire, Wiltshire, and London; also I will that the foresaid Mary have and enjoy peaceably the manors of Norbury and Bedyngton, from the Feast of Michaelmas next coming, unto the same Feast of Michaelmas for two years next suing, bearing to Nicholas, my son, yearly xll. ; also my will is, I bequeath to the foresaid Mary all the money that I received for the sale of the manor of Crombregge, and also all my goods moveable not bequeathed; also my will is, that my feoffees, after the two years aforesaid, enfeoffe my said son Nicholas the two parts of the manors of Norbury and Bedyngton, to him and the heirs male of his body coming; and the third part of the said manors to the foresaid Mary, time of her life in name of dower; the remainder, after her decease, to the said Nicholas, my son, and to the heirs male of his body coming ; and if the said Nicholas die without heirs male of his body coming, that then the foresaid manors of Norbury and Bedyngton shall remain to Nicholas Carew, Knight, to him and to his heirs of his body coming, if it so be that the said Nicholas Carew, Knight, do tail to himself and to his heirs of his body coming; the remainder to the foresaid Nicholas, my son, and to the heirs of his body coming, an hundred marks worth land yearly; and if it shall so happen that the said Nicholas Carew, Knight, die without heirs of his body coming, that then the foresaid manors of Bedyngton and Norbury shall remain to the aforesaid Nicholas, my son, and to the heirs of his body coming, and if he die without heirs of his body coming, that then it shall remain to Mary and Johanne, daughters to Thomas Carew, my son, and to the heirs of their bodies coming; with remainder to Isabel, my daughter, and to the heirs of her body coming ; with remainder to Thomas Turbevyll, son to Robert Turbeville, Knight, and to the heirs of his body ; remainder to William Turbevyll, another son of the said Robert Turbevyll, Knight, and to the heirs of his body coming, and for default of issue the remainder to my right heirs : also my will is, I pray and charge my feoffees of the manors of Kersalton, Nutfield, Purle, Suiham, Lyde, Maythma', and my lands in Wodemysthern, called Weston, after the decease of Mary my wife, that they grant these same manors to Nicholas my son and to the heirs of his body ; in default of such issue the remainder to Mary and Johanne, daughters to Thomas Carew, my son, and to the heirs of their bodies ; and if they die without issue, the remainder to Isabel, my daughter, and to the heirs of her body; the remainder to Thomas Turbevyll, son to Robert Turbevyll, Knight, and to the heirs of his body ; failing such issue to William Turbevyll abovesaid, and to the heirs of his body coming ; and for default of issue the remainder to be sold by Mary, my wife, and by my feoffees ; also my will is, that Mary, my wife, have all the issues and profits of all the lands, &c. in the towns of Wodengshorn, Banstede, and Chypstede, for to sustain and find Mary, the daughter of Thomas Carew, my son, unto the age of xv year, and after the xv year I will that my feoffees grant to Mary, the daughter of the said Thomas, the same lands and tenements to her and to her heirs of her body coming ; and for default of issue, the remainder to Johanne, sister of the said Mary ; remainder to Nicholas, my son, and to his heirs of his body; remainder to Isabel, my daughter, and her heirs of her body; and for default of issue the remainder to be sold by my wife and my feoflees ; also my will is, that Mary, my wife, have all the issues and profit of the lands, &c. in the towns of Sandersted and Wirlingham, for to sustain and find Johanne, the other daughter of Thomas Carew, my son, unto the age of xv year, and that then I will that my feoffees grant to the aforesaid Johanne the same lands, &c. to her and the heirs of her body ; remainder to Mary, her sister, and her heirs ; remainder to Nicholas, my son, and his heirs ; remainder to Isabel, my daughter, and her issue; and for default of issue the remainder to be sold by my wife and my feoffees.

Also my will is, I pray and charge my executors that they grant to Isabel, my daughter, all the lands in the parish of Wantynge, in Berkshire; to Isabel, my daughter, for her life; with remainder to Johanna, daughters of Thomas Carew, my son, and her heirs; remainder to Mary, her sister and her heirs; remainder to Nicholas, my son, and his heirs ; remainder to Ann, daughter of the same Isabel, and to the heirs of her body ; remainder, in default of issue, to be sold by my wife and my feoffees ; also I will that my feoffees, after the decease of Mary, my wife, give and grant to Mary, daughter of Thomas Carew, my son, the manor of "Stoke yn hoo," and to her heirs ; remainder to Joan, her sister, Nicholas, my son, and Isabel, my daughter, and the heirs of their bodies respectively ; and for default of issue remainder to be sold by my wife and my feoffees ; also my will is, that after the decease of Mary, my wife, the manor of Bandon be tailed to the Baron of Carew, in the manner and form as the manor of Norbury, and Bedyngton shall be after the form aforesaid; also my will is, and I charge Mary, my wife, and my feoffees that they sell the lands and tenements in Croydon called Pyrle Rent, and Costantynysrent in fee, and that the money that cometh thereof that they dispose for me and mine ancestry in alms, by their discretion.

Also my will is, and pray and charge my feoffees, that after my decease, in all haste possible, that they endow Mary, my wife, in the best wise and to the best intent of all those manors, lands, and tenements, whereof she has non-jointure, as my trust is in them. In witness of all this, to these present writing, which is my last will, I put hereto my seal the year and the day abovesaid.

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16 Oct 1432, Westminster

[Writ of diem clausit extremum after the death of] Nicholas Carewe, esquire, [directed to the escheators of Surrey and Sussex.]

Calendar of Fine Rolls, 11 Hen. VI, p. 102