George Carteret

Sir George Carteret, 1st Baronet (c. 1610–1680), also known as George de Carteret, was a royalist statesman in Jersey and England, who served in the Clarendon Ministry as Treasurer of the Navy. He was also one of the original proprietors of the Carolina colony.

He was born in the island of Jersey sometime between 1607 and 1610. Entering the Royal Navy at an early age, he attained a high reputation as a naval officer, and in 1626 was appointed by Charles I as Joint Governor of the island of Jersey. He was much esteemed by all parties. In 1640, he was appointed Comptroller of the Navy, and May 1645, was created a Baronet.

On the commencement of the Civil War he retired from the navy, and withdrew with his family to Jersey, but subsequently returned to aid the projects of the royalists. He afterwards, on the ruin of the royal cause, afforded an asylum to the Prince of Wales and other refugees of distinction within his government of Jersey where he served as Bailiff (1643-1651), and defended the island against the Parliamentarians, Elizabeth Castle being the last fortress that lowered the royal banner.

George Carteret also had Charles proclaimed King in Saint Helier on 17 February, 1649, after the execution of his father, Charles I. Charles II never forgot this gesture whereby Jersey became the first of his realms to recognise his claim to the throne.

At the Restoration, having shared Charles II's banishment, Sir George formed one of the immediate train of the restored monarch on his triumphant entry into London. The next day Carteret was sworn into the Privy Council, appointed Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, and constituted Treasurer of the Navy. He career for the next decade is documented in the diary of Samuel Pepys who joined him as Clerk of the Acts to the Navy Board in 1662.

The fidelity with which Carteret, like Berkeley, had clung to the royal cause, gave him also great influence at court. He had, at an early date, taken a warm interest in the colonization of America. With John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, he became one of the proprietors of the Province of Carolina, prior to their becoming jointly interested in New Jersey.

In 1665, Carteret was one of the drafters of the Concession and Agreement, a document that provided religious freedom in the colony of New Jersey. It was issued as a proclamation for the structure of the government for the colony written by the two proprietors, Berkeley and Carteret.

In 1669, he was expelled from the House of Commons to which he had been elected in 1661 to represent Portsmouth, for misconduct as Vice Chamberlain, being accused of embezzlement (see Andrew Marvell's Letters, pp. 125, 126). In 1673, he was appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty, and continued in the public service until his death on 14 January, 1679 (old style).

Shortly before Carteret's death, the king proposed to give him the title Baron Carteret, but Carteret died too soon, so the honor passed to his grandson George Carteret, 1st Baron Carteret.

References

*New Jersey Archives, First Series. Newark, NJ, 1880-1893., Volume 1, page 25.
*Whitehead, William Adee, East Jersey under the proprietary governments. New York, New-Jersey historical society, 1846, page 104.
*O'Callaghan, ed., Documents relating to the Colonial history of the State of New York, 1849 - 1851. Volume 2, page 410.
*Marvell, Andrew, The poems and letters of Andrew Marvell; edited by H. M. Margoliouth. 3d ed. rev. by Pierre Legouis with the collaboration of E. E. Duncan-Jones. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1971.

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