– 27 November 1575) of Mohuns Ottery, Luppitt, Devon, was an English adventurer, who served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England and took part in the Tudor conquest of Ireland.

[1] In June 1549, Carew was despatched by Protector Somerset to help quash the Prayer Book Rebellion (the rising in Devon and Cornwall occasioned by the issue of the reformed Book of Common Prayer); but he was subsequently reprimanded by Somerset for the harshness of his countermeasures, notably the burning of barns at Crediton.

However, at the end of that year he conspired (as part of "Wyatt's Rebellion") against her proposed marriage to Crown Prince Philip II of Spain: unlike many of his co-conspirators, he managed to escape arrest, and fled into exile on the European mainland in January 1554.

He was held in the Tower of London until October 1556, his release being secured on payment of certain family debts due to the Crown.

[5] Under Elizabeth I, Carew was sent to settle a dispute between Lord Grey and the Earl of Norfolk, which had arisen while they were commanding an army against the French in Scotland at the Siege of Leith.

Henry II of England (the first Lord of Ireland, a title assumed in 1172 at the beginning of the Cambro-Norman conquest) had granted half the lordship of Cork to Robert FitzStephen, and Hooker believed that Fitz-Stephen's daughter had married a Carew ancestor.

His first proceedings were against Christopher Cheevers for possession of the lordship of Maston in County Meath; Carew claimed he couldn't get a fair trial at common law before a jury and went instead before the lord deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, sitting in council, whereupon Cheevers agreed to a compromise of the claim.

The land seizure caused great disquiet locally and eventually led to the Butler Wars, which contributed to a wider insurrection, the first of the Desmond Rebellions.

Carew's legal adviser, John Hooker, had by then become a prominent New English member (for Athenry) in the Irish Parliament in Dublin.

The ensuing first Desmond Rebellion (1569–73) saw the rebels under James FitzMaurice FitzGerald engaged in bloody conflict along the coast of Munster, besieging the city of Cork, amongst others, with the demand that all efforts at colonisation cease.

Once this part of his plans had been settled he ordered a house to be prepared for him at Cork but died of illness on the way, on 27 November 1575, at Ross in County Waterford.

There is, however, a mural monument to him in Exeter Cathedral, erected by John Hooker: it was originally set up in the north choir aisle, but was moved to the south transept in 1805.

Two portraits of him by Gerlach Flicke survive: one is in the Royal Collection, and held at Hampton Court Palace; the other is in the Scottish National Gallery.