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Carew Manor

Through the Ages

The following timeline is intended to give a brief overview of major events, giving some background context to the Carew family’s place in history.
The Middle Ages/Norman Times
 
1337 – 1443
Hundred Years War with France
 
1348 – 49
The Black Death arrived in England, killing nearly half of the population
 
1371 – 1377
The first Carew of Beddington (also called Nicholas) occupied the important office of Keeper of the Privy Seal*.
 
1387
Geoffrey Chaucer starts writing The Canterbury Tales
 
1415
The English defeat France at the Battle of Agincourt
 
1455
The War of the Roses starts
 
* Keeper of the Privy Seal was a position of importance in what was essentially the government of the day. Any official documents had to contain the royal ‘seal’ and it was the job of the ‘keeper’ to not only place the wax seal on each document, but ensure that the seal was kept safe – imagine if a copy was made and ended up on a false death warrant, sentencing someone to death by beheading – or worse, being hung-drawn & quartered!
The Tudor/Elizabethan Era
 
1492
Columbus discovers America
 
1491
Henry VIII was born
 
1509
Henry VIII succeeds to the throne
 
A young Nicholas Carew grew up at Carew Manor and spent time with the young King Henry VIII. Nicholas Carew was awarded various grants and offices including Master of the Horse* in 1522 and Order of the Garter** in 1536. Both of these titles show how much influence and respect King Henry VIII had for Nicholas Carew at the time.
 
1534
Henry VIII forms the ‘Church of England’
 
1539
Nicholas Carew executed for treason. Carew Manor was then forfeited to the Crown (it now belonged to Henry VIII).
 
1547
Henry VIII dies
 
1553
Queen Mary I succeeds to the throne
 
Carew Manor is re-instated to the Carew Family.
 
1558
Mary I dies and Elizabeth I begins her 45 year reign
 
Francis Carew (the son of the beheaded Nicholas), despite being a Catholic kept in favour during Elizabeth I reign. He enjoyed gardening and Carew manor garden was noted as one of the finest in England.
 
1570
Sir Francis Drake sets sail for his first voyage to the West Indies
 
1591
First performance of a play by William Shakespeare
 
* Master of the Horse is a role that still exists today, although it is now largely ceremonial requiring the office holder to attend whenever the monarch rides on horseback or travels by horse-drawn carriage, such as at Trooping the Colour and the State Opening of Parliament. It is the third Great Officer of the Royal Household, after the Lord Chamberlain and the Lord Steward. During Tudor times it was an office of political importance.
 
** Founded in 1348, the Order of the Garter is the highest order of knighthood (still) existing in England.

 

Jumping Forward To Georgian Times
 
When Francis Carew died the estate passed to his nephew (another Nicholas). Then to another Francis … and by 1727 finally to the 10th (and last) Nicholas! This Nicholas Carew was financially inept and sold off the family silver to pay for the many debts he incurred.
 
1762
The Carew Manor estate passes to Nicholas Carew’s daughter Catherine dies unmarried. It was then inherited by the Gee Family (who were related to the Beddinton Carews two generations back.
 
1766
America declares its independence from Britain
 
1780’s
Industrial Revolution begins around this time
 
1788
First convict ships are sent to Australia
 
1796
Edward Jenner invented a vaccination for small pox
 
1805
Lord Nelson defeats Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar
 
1807
Abolition of the slave trade
 
1828
Carew Manor is passed to Benjamin Hallowell. He changed his name to ‘Carew’ although was no blood relation to original family line. However as an interesting fact, he actually served in the Navy with Nelson *.
 
It then passed to his grandson Charles Hallowell Hallowell Carew, who gambled himself into bankruptcy.
 
* See the ‘Battle of Trafalgar’
The Victorians To Now
 
1838
Coronation of Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens writes Oliver Twist
 
1859
Carew Manor was sold and became the Lambeth Female Orphan Asylum.
 
1914 – 1918
First World War
 
1939
Second World War begins
 
1939 – 1945
During WWIII the Lambeth Female Orphan Asylum* at Carew Manor was evacuated and not returned to.
 
1953
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
 
1954
The house became a school run by Surrey County Council and in 1965 the London Borough of Sutton took over its maintenance.
 
* There have been a number of sightings over the years of a little girl in Victorian dress on the overhead walkway of Carew Manor. See “A Tour Of The Manor” for more details…..
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