John Carew | |
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![]() Contemporary print showing the Execution of Charles I (top), with regicides like Carew (bottom) | |
Nominated for Devon in Barebone's Parliament | |
In office July 1653 – December 1653 | |
English Council of State | |
In office 1651–1653 | |
Member, Board of Admiralty | |
In office 1652–1654 | |
Member of Parliament for Tregony | |
In office February 1647 – April 1653 | |
Personal details | |
Born | 3 July 1622 Antony, Cornwall |
Died | 15 October 1660 Charing Cross, London | (aged 38)
Cause of death | Executed |
Relations | Sir Alexander Carew, 2nd Baronet (half-brother, executed by Parliament 1644) |
Alma mater | Gloucester Hall, Oxford |
Occupation | Politician |
John Carew (3 July 1622 - 15 October 1660) was a member of the landed gentry from Antony, Cornwall and MP for Tregony from 1647 to 1653. A prominent supporter of the Fifth Monarchists, a millenarianist religious sect, he backed Parliament and the Commonwealth in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and approved the Execution of Charles I in January 1649. He held various administrative positions during the Interregnum, including membership of the English Council of State, but was deprived of office and jailed in 1655 for his opposition to The Protectorate.
Although aware that as a regicide of Charles I he was likely to be arrested after the 1660 Stuart Restoration, Carew made no attempt to escape. During the trial, he claimed that by signing Charles' death warrant, he was simply complying with a legal Act of Parliament, an argument rejected by the court.
He was found guilty of treason and hanged, drawn and quartered on 15 October 1660, two days after his close friend Thomas Harrison suffered the same fate.