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Born: Jun 1562
Died: Feb 1643
Father: Nicholas THROCKMORTON (Sir)
Mother: Anne CAREW
Married 1: Mary MORE (dau. of Sir George More and Anne Poynings) 17 Jan 1597/98
Children:
1. Elizabeth CAREW (b. 1599)
2. Anne CAREW
3. Mary CAREW (b. 1601 - d. 31 Jul 1631)
4. Francis CAREW (Sir) (b. 1602 - d. 9 Apr 1649) (m. Susanna Romney)
5. Nicholas CAREW (b. 1605)
6. George CAREW (b. 1607) (m. Margaret Englefield)
7. Edmund CAREW (b. 1609 - d. 10 Sep 1654)
8. Oliphe CAREW (b. 1611 - d. 25 Mar 1670)
Married 2: Susan BRIGHT (d. 11 Dec 1633) (w. of Henry Butler)
Children:
11. Susanna CAREW
12. Son THROCKMORTON
The details in this biography come from the History of Parliament, a biographical dictionary of Members of the House of Commons.
Fifth surviving son of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton of Paulerspury by Anne Carew; brother of Arthur Throckmorton. Educ. matric. Padua 1590. Married first, by 1599, Mary, dau. of Sir George More of Loseley and Anne Poynings, by whom he had five sons and three daughters; and second, by 1618, Susan Bright (d. 1633), of Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, widow of Henry Butler of London, merchant, by whom he had one son and one dau. Knighted Jun 1603 at Beddington. Suc. uncle Francis Carew of Beddington and changed his name to Carew May 1611. J.p. Surr. temp. Jas. I; chamberlain of the Exchequer 1613.
Throckmorton, a younger son of the statesman and diplomat, was a minor figure until adopted as his heir by his uncle. Indeed, prior to the discovery of the diary kept by his brother Arthur, his activities before 1600 were almost completely unknown. As it is he is overshadowed by Arthur and by his sister Elizabeth, whose secret marriage to Sir Walter Raleigh caused such uproar at court.
Only a few years old when his father died, Throckmorton was left £500 and a half share (with his younger brother Henry) in the salt monopoly. His mother, who died in 1587, left him a jewel, having two rows of rubies and one of diamonds, and household goods, including satin and velvet hangings ‘with falcons and lions embroidered thereon’, taffeta curtains, silk and linen quilts and damask towels and napkins. He probably continued to live at the family home at Paulerspury, Northamptonshire. By 1588 he was in Italy, for Arthur recorded in his diary that he had sent his brother some money to continue his continental tour, probably part of a £40 annuity he was looking after for him during this period. Two years later the position was reversed, for Arthur borrowed £300 from Nicholas, at 10%.
Throckmorton was in England again by 1596, for in Jul of that year he passed on to Sir Francis Carew at Beddington the rumour that Raleigh had been drowned during the expedition to Cadiz. Evidently he was a familiar figure in Surrey by this date, and shortly afterwards he married the daughter of another prominent Surrey gentleman, Sir George More of Loseley. He was returned to Parliament for Lyme Regis in 1601, a seat which his father had once occupied. His patron was presumably his brother-in-law, Sir Walter Raleigh. Others among Throckmorton's relatives, including his father, grandfather, brother, uncle, father-in-law and son, saw service in the House of Commons.
He was adopted by his uncle, Sir Francis Carew of Beddington. He thus took the name of Carew and suceeded to the Beddington property. Knighted on 10 Jun 1603.
Two letters which Throckmorton wrote to Sir George More have survived among the Loseley papers, the second of which, written shortly after the accession of James I, suggests that the new reign had brought the writer financial difficulties. His credit was strained ‘to the uttermost’ and he was ‘at the last cast’.
'My plate is all to pawn, credit I have none, livings or revenues to my company small, or rather none ... Wherefore I pray you do duly consider my case and your daughter's, for whom I am sorry ... No less than £200 at Midsummer next can make me show my face in any company, and a hundred at Michaelmas next, which if I cannot have I must leave my country, and my wife and children to the parish'
Whatever lies behind this and it is not possible to discover Throckmorton's sources of income at the turn of the century by 1611 his worries were over. Within the space of a few years he acquired Beddington and other property, a £400 annuity, and a profitable office in the Exchequer. For the rest of his long life Throckmorton was one of the leading gentlemen in Surrey. He died in Feb 1644, and was buried in Beddington church.
Mrs. Richardson lists the son of Sir Nicholas as Sir Francis, Nicholas, George, Edmund and Oliphe. Sir Nicholas' will (see below) identifies Susanna as his only daughter, half-sister to his sons, but he also identifies an "Elizabeth Butler" as sister to Susanna. It is not at all clear who Elizabeth Butler is. Ancestral File lists several other daughters, including an Elizabeth, but other documentation regarding these daughters has not been found. It is possible some died young and thus are not mentioned in Sir Nicholas' will.
The table tomb of Sir Francis Carew ob. 1611. This fine alabaster monument is of great interest. The Knight lies under an ornate entablature, a full length figure in armour. On the front of the tomb are depicted a man in armour, his wife and seven children. These represent Sir Nicholas Throckmorton and family. The former was a nephew of Sir Francis Carew (who died a bachelor) and succeeded to the estate, assuming thereafter the name of Carew.
Will of Sir Nicholas Carew, circa 1644:
"The Remembrance of the shortness, fraylety and coruptible estate of
man's lyfe, not knowing how long it may please God to continew the same,
and considering allso what troubles, suits and chardges in law, and what
vnkindness doth daylie happen, even amongst the neerest in blood, for the
not making of men's wills, Theise and suchlyke considerations have moved
me Sr. Nicholas Carew allias Throckmorton of Bedington in the countie of
Surry, Knight, to make my humble and heartie prayers unto allmightie God,
that it may please him to grant me the assistance of his gratious
directions, that I may advisedly sett in order those worldly goods which
it hath pleased (him) to bestowe upon me. Vnto Sr. Francys Carew, Knight
of the bathe and to his heires malles lawfully begotten (I give) the
Manor of Walton, with the windemill and howse to it, and the howse called
Newbarnes, with all the tithe of the parishe of Mitcham: And for wante of
such issue, Then to my seconde sonne Nicholas Carew and the heirres
malles of his bodie: And for want of such, to my thirde sonne Geordge
Carew and the heirres males of his bodie: And for want of such, Then to
my fourthe sonne Edmund Carew and to the heirres malles of his bodie:
And for wante of such issue male, then to my fifte sonne Oliphe Carew:
And for the wante of such, Then to my heirres for ever. By severall fines
and Indentures I have levied vnto Sr. Thomas Grymes, Knight, and Robert
Wolrich, Esqr., of the Mannors of Biggin and Tamworth in Mitcham,
Tooting, and Martin in the County of Surry, the Rectorie of Cowdham in
the Countie of Kent, and fortie acres of pasture in East Barnet in the
Countie of Hereford. I doe hereby declare that I haue not changed or made
void anie of the vses or estates appointed by the Indentures aforesaid.
And my will is that all manner of writings concerning these mannors &c.
be deliuered to those my sonnes to whom the said premises are conveyed.
And for that my eldest sonne Sr. francys Carew, Knight of the bathe, hath
runne him selfe farre in debte and fearing if I shoulde make him my
executor my hole estate would be dissipated, I make and ordaine my
welbeloued brother in law Sr. Thomas Grymes of Peckham my sole executor.
And I bequeath (him) forty poundes. I geiue the remainder of my goods to
my grandchild Nicholas Carew, sonne of Sr. francys Carew, at the age of
one and twenty teares.
And concerning my onely daughter Susanna Carew which I had by my last
wife. According to a covenant in an Indenture tripartite made the 13th
day of August, 1616, Betweene my selfe of the first part, Susanna Butler,
widdow, of the second parte, and Thomas Trevor of the Inner Temple London
esquire with others on the third part, That I should pay vnto my said
daughter at the day of her maryage or her age of one and twenty yeares,
which of them shall first happen, the sume of three thousand pounds for
her portion: Now my will is that it be accordingly payed vnto her. And
(I) do admonish her in a fatherly care that she be advised and guided by
my executor and overseers, both concerning the disposing of her said
portion and her marriage. And my will is that vntill the day of her
marriage or her age of one and twenty yeares there be allowed vnto her
yearely for her maintenance the sum of sixe score pounds. And further my
will is that my said daughter and Elizabeth Butler her sister shall have
and enjoy the lodging chamber where they vsually lye, and the lodging and
diett of their servants, during the space of sixe months next after my
decease, if my said daughter shall so longe like to liue there.
Allso I geiue vnto my youngest sonne Oliphe Carew fiue hundred pounds for
him to imploye in his trading. Allso I geiue vnto my grandchilde Rebecca
carew, eldest daughter of my eldest sonne Sr. francys Carew one hundred
pounds at her age of one and twenty yeares or the day of her mariadge.
Allso I geiue vnto Susanna Carew, Elizabeth Carew and Phillip Carew, the
second, third and fourth daughters of my saide eldest sonne, to (every)
of them one hundred pounds. Allso I geiue to the parishe Church of
Bedington to be vsed one the communion table one siluer flagon with my
armes graven vpon it. And I geiue to the poore of Bedington fiue pounds:
and to all my menservants & maydservants which are with me at the tyme of
my death one hole yeares wages over and aboue what is dew vnto them. And
I doe desyre my louinge frendes Sr. Thomas Trevor, Knight, one of the
Barons of the Exchequer, and Robert Wolrich of Greies I: in the Countie
of Middlesex esquire and Edward Harris of the Inner Temple, London,
esquire to be the supervisors."
The last sheet of this imperfect transcript (which is taken from the
Carew Papers, Add. MS. 29,605, fol. 29b-39b) is endorsed "Copy of part of
the Will of Sr. Ns Carew als Throckmorton." There is no date or witness.
By her marriage with Sir Nicholas Carew, Susan Bright, the aunt of Henry
Bright, the New England emigrant, became sister-in-law to Sir Walter
Raleigh. The monument which Susanna Carew, described in the will as her
only daughter, placed to her memory in Bedington Church, has the
following inscription:-
"To the memory of my deare mother, the Lady Carew, late wife of Sir
Nicholas Carew of Bedington, Whose vertuous Life doth memory deserue: who
taught her children Heauen's great God to serue. She departed this life
the xith day of December in the yeare 1633."
Sources:
The Parish Church
of St. Mary The Virgin, Beddington, Surrey: The History.
Undated.
Suffolk Manorial Families, pp 146-147
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