Author: Carwithen, William
Biography:
CARWITHEN, William (1750-1824: findmypast.co.uk)
He was born on 27 Sept. 1750 and baptised on 23 Oct. at Manaton, Devon, the son of John Carwithen, the Rector, and his wife Mary Bayly, who had married in 1748. Foster’s Alumni Oxoniensis and Kearley-Wright’s West-Country Poets both give his birth as 1752 but this is incorrect. There is always the possibility of an early infant death and a later birth being given the same name but the baptism register is corroborated by the burial register which gives his age as 74 and a newspaper report as 75 (for 75th year). He went quite late, aged 26, to St. Mary’s Hall, Oxford (matric. 1776, BA 1784), and entered the church, taking over his father’s rectorship in 1780 and remaining there until his death. He was also appointed Master of Totnes Grammar School in 1789. He married Mary Sommers on 31 Mar. 1780 at her parish of Chudleigh, Devon. They had three sons. He died on 31 Oct. 1824 at the Parsonage House, Manaton, and was buried on 7 Nov. His wife had predeceased him in 1818 and he left a small estate to his sons. (findmypast.co.uk 3 Nov. 2021; ancestry.co.uk 3 Nov. 2021; CCEd 3 Nov. 2021; Sherborne Mercury 20 Jul. 1789; Hampshire Telegraph 8 Nov. 1824; Watkins, 58; West Country Poets, 87-8) AA