Biography

He was probably born in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 in 1575. A Richard Carpenter was baptized at Phillack

Phillack

Phillack is a village in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately one mile northeast of Hayle and half-a-mile inland from St Ives Bay on Cornwall's Atlantic coast...

, Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, on 16 February 1575[/6], son of Thomas Carpenter. It is not certain, however, that he and this Richard Carpenter were the same person. He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...

, on 28 May 1592, and took his degrees of B.A. on 19 February 1596, B.D. 25 June 1611, and D.D. 10 February 1616-17. He was elected to a Cornish fellowship at his college on 30 June 1596, and retained it until 30 June 1606; under the advice of Thomas Holland

Thomas Holland (translator)

Thomas Holland was an English Calvinist scholar and theologian, and one of the translators of the King James Version of the Bible.He was a 1570 graduate of Exeter College, Oxford and Fellow of Baliol...

, the Rector, he studied theology, and became noted as a preacher.

In 1606 he was appointed by Sir Robert Chichester to the rectories of Sherwell and Loxhore, near Barnstaple

Barnstaple

Barnstaple is a town and civil parish in the local government district of North Devon in the county of Devon, England, UK. It lies west southwest of Bristol, north of Plymouth and northwest of the county town of Exeter. The old spelling Barnstable is now obsolete.It is the main town of the...

, and it has been suggested that he was the Richard Carpenter who from 1601 to 1626 held the vicarage of Cullompton

Cullompton

Cullompton is a civil parish and town in Devon, England, locally known as Cully. It is miles north-north-east of Exeter and lies on the River Culm. In 2010 it had a population of 8,639 and is growing rapidly....

. His will, dated in 1625, describes him as pastor of Sherwell (not Sheviock, as per will abstract), Devon.

He died on 18 December 1627, and was buried in the chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

 of Loxhore Church, where a monument was erected to his memory.

Works

Carpenter's literary productions were confined to theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

. He was the author of:

• A Sermon Preached at the Funeral Solemnities of Sir Arthur Ackland, 9 January 1612.
• A Pastoral Charge at the Triennial Visitation of the Bishop of Exon. at Barnstaple, 1616.
• Christ's Larum Bell of Love resounded, 1616.
• The Conscionable Christian, three sermons preached before the judges of the circuit in 1620, London, 1623.

His learning is praised by Charles Fitzgeoffry in his Affaniae, and two letters addressed to him by Degory Wheare

Degory Wheare

Degory Wheare, also spelt Digory Whear was an historian, the first Camden Professor of Ancient History in the University of Oxford.-Life:...

 in 1603 and 1621 are in the Epistolae Eucharistice with Wheare's Pietas erga Benefactores, 1628. Some verses by Carpenter are printed in the Funebre Officium in Memoriam Elizabethae Angliae reginae

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

of the University of Oxford, 1603, and in the collection (Pietas erga Jacobum Angliae regem) with which that body in the same year welcomed the new king.

Family

While he was a tutor at Oxford, Christopher Trevelyan was among his pupils, and through this introduction Carpenter married Susanna, born about 1688, daughter of Sir John Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet

Sir John Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet

Sir John Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet was a British politician.The member of an ancient Cornwall family, Trevelyan sat as Member of Parliament for Somerset from 1695 to 1698 and in 1701 and for Minehead from 1708 to 1717 and 1717 to 1722...

 and Urith Chichester. his pupil's youngest sister, and obtained his benefice from Sir Robert Chichester. The marriage took place at Nettlecombe

Nettlecombe

Nettlecombe is a farming hamlet on the Isle of Wight. It is the site of a deserted medieval village and there is evidence of earthworks close to the present hamlet.There are several fishing lakes in Nettlecombe....

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, on 1 September 1606.

The children of Richard and Susanna Carpenter were:

• 1) Susanna Carpenter, bp. Nettlecombe, 28 Oct. 1607.
• 2) John Carpenter, b. ca. 1608.
• 3) Mary Carpenter, b. say 1610.
• 4) Richard Carpenter, b. say 1612.
• 5) Ann Carpenter, b. say 1614.
• 6) Elizabeth Carpenter, b. say 1616.
• 7) Edward Carpenter, b. say 1618.
• 8) Sarah Carpenter, b. say 1620.
• 9) Thomas Carpenter, b. say 1622.

This Richard Carpenter was not the Richard Carpenter of Amesbury

Amesbury

Amesbury is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is most famous for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is in its parish, and for the discovery of the Amesbury Archer—dubbed the King of Stonehenge in the press—in 2002...

, Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, father of William Carpenter

William Carpenter (Rhode Island)

William Carpenter William Carpenter William Carpenter (born about 1610 probably in Amesbury, Wiltshire, England - died September 7, 1685 at Providence (Pawtuxet section now in Cranston, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations) was a co-founder of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations...

 of Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

.

Nor should he be confused with Richard Carpenter (vicar of Poling). This Richard was at Kings College, Cambridge, in 1622, twice lived in Europe for a few years and was vicar of Poling from 1635 to about 1642. He married in middle age and finally settled not in Amesbury but Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire, where he died about 1670.