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Remembered Today:

Major Carew - who was he


corisande

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Thanks for trying with the probate. I know nothing about the registration of wills or what happens if a person is intestate, particularly in 1943

Well we know that he was a bit changeable with his name, but the bits I have on his death

The Times reports the death on the 28th January 1943 of Major F Hallowell Carew OBE MC son of the late Francis Hallowell Carew of Beddington Park. Private funeral and no other details.

and

The death of Frank M M H Carew was registered in Berkhamstead in the March Qtr of 1943, age 77

If nothing else his death was registered in his birth name, but someone else did that!

Unfortunately none of those people you have found are likely to be him. But as you say, it is impossible to know what name he would have left his will in.

I guess, correct me anyone if I am wrong, that as the death was register in Berkhamstead. then that is where he died. Trouble with English death certs is that if I got one it is unlikely to tell much more that the registrant

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I know you're not looking for more info on Guy Carew but thought this might be of interest :

Carew, Guy Hallowell of 15 Clevedon Place, Eaton Square, Middlesex died 28th July 1921 at 20 Pembridge Crescent, Middlesex. Administration London 25th August to Frank Hallowell Carew Major HM Army. Effects £2541 4s 9d.

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I have now started a linked page for Guy off the Majors and will put that there!

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If nothing else his death was registered in his birth name, but someone else did that!

Unfortunately none of those people you have found are likely to be him. But as you say, it is impossible to know what name he would have left his will in.

I guess, correct me anyone if I am wrong, that as the death was register in Berkhamstead. then that is where he died. Trouble with English death certs is that if I got one it is unlikely to tell much more that the registrant

Because of the nature of the laws governing inheritance, the person(s) seeking probate or administration over his estate would have had to apply under his 'real' name, or whatever name was on his 'official' documents, such as a passport. They would also have to list any 'known' (or 'unofficial') names that he was known by, or under which he may have owned property, bank accounts, investments, etc. The entries in the probate registers will therefore list a person's real name ("Carew, Frank Hallowell"), and then state something like "otherwise known as Hallowell Carew, also known as...." etc. So I think the chances of him having a will under a completely different name is pretty slim. Same would apply to the death cert, which would also have to be produced when seeking probate or administration (which a very good reason for thinking that this is the name that would appear in the probate register).

You are correct in thinking that if his death is registered in Berkhamstead then he died in that immediate area. The DC would give name and age of the deceased, probably the occupation, present address (home rather than hospital), cause of death, place of death, and the name of a person who identified the body (probably his next-of-kin or a family member, depending on the circumstances of his death). So scope for research there, I'd have thought.

And, despite him being a bit 'colourful', I was guessing that he wouldn't be known by most of the other names that I listed (Maud, Isabella, Gertrude.....), I only mentioned them in case they tied in with the family tree.

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I have failed again to track a photo

I tried the Tank Corps and got a reply

Sorry to say we do not have very much. The citation for his MC actually spells his name Hallewell but in the index he is simply H. Carew. At the time of his award he would have belonged to A Battalion Tank Corps although that was only adopted in June 1917, before that it would have been A Battalion of the Heavy Branch, Machine Gun Corps. We have nothing here to show when he first came into the tanks but the Machine Gun Corps was created early in 1915 and the Tank Detachment, as it was first known in about May. He is also shown as section commander of No. 6 Section, 2nd Company of A Battalion at Cambrai on 20 November 1917. However there is no account of any specific activities there.

As far as I know we do not have a photograph although we have boxes full of prints showing individuals and groups, many of whom are unidentified so we may have one, unwittingly. What I can tell you is that the rather flamboyant, and clearly not camera-shy officer in the photo on the website is a Captain Reggie Lyles MC, also of A Battalion.

The Major certainly avoided the camera

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Interesting that he appears to have inherited £2,500 from his brother in 1921 - a considerable sum. However, I get the impression that he would have spent lavishly and would not be surprised if he left only debts when he departed this life! I think there is no doubt that this man had more excitement and fun during his life than most.

What a pity that no photo has materialised - I envisage him as a Terry Thomas lookalike.

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I get easily distracted, the Major is such a fascinating man. Here is Northwood Station area today

northwood-map.jpg

Students of the Major can see his naming pattern for roads

Murray, Maxwell, Hallowell, Carew, Chester, Roy, Reginald, and Dene (was Edith)

I have looked for a mistress being remembered in a road name, I am sure he would, but cannot make a connection

I found another photo of the lovely Mrs C, but still looking for one of the Major. I have now found some direct descendants of his son Roy, and have contacted them to see if they have one

A sad little footnote - she died 11 months after she remarried. Died of Typhoid

death.jpg

1894 Jan 17. Married at Register Office St George Hanover Square London UK to Loftus Earle. A Loftus William Earle married Edythe Georgina Rickards in 1904, and he died aged in 1949 at Windsor aged 83

1894 Oct/Dec Edith Morgan Earle death registered Kensington, Greater London, London, Middlesex (her Christian names were Edith Morgan)

edith-chester.jpg

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The trail is now heading for Bulgaria :)

my grandmother died in January this year, taking any info with her.. she was a Halliwell Carew.. the whole family tree thing is hazy, but there are still some left.. will contact my aunt who is in Bulgaria at the moment, she should have something ( I was given a very old photo once, with many family members in it, including Frank, but, I lost it, am kicking myself, cos I know how rare it was, but hey) will let you know!!

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Captain Robert Falcon Scott CVO (6 June 1868 – 29 March 1912)

Don't know how you spot these things!

An amazing story on the Major, it just grows and grows

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I note that the surname Carew with naval connections came up on last week's "Antiques Roadshow" The Vicar/Rector of Wetherby which was hosting the show is a Carew and he brought along a Victorian book about the "Mary Rose" which was commanded by a forebear of his, Admiral Carew. The book was owned by a Victorian naval officer by the name of Carew.

I presume Stubbington House may have been a naval prep school of some sort so perhaps these folk are related to the Major.

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  • 4 weeks later...

It is difficult to keep the Major out of things, there are numerous mentions of him in "Executed for Ireland - the Patrick Moran Story" - the IRA man executed for the wrong crime.

The Major was involved in the erroneous identification of Moran

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  • 5 weeks later...

I did not realise the link with Carew's shooting and the Moran trial. The Moran trial was due to start on 4th Feb 1921, and Carew was shot the day before on 3rd Feb. The trial had to be postponed, and it started on 15th February 1921. Carew gave evidence then, but although his batman was prepared to identify Moran, Carew said he could not make a positive identification.

1921 Feb 3. Carew was severely wounded and gets gratuity of £104 for his wound from the army, plus £1500 from a Civil Court in Ireland for "malicious injury". His army wound gratuity was later increased to the maximum allowed of £250, but he did not get a wound pension. Carew was sitting in a tea shop in Dame Street in Dublin, when a man approached him and deliberately fired at him with an automatic pistol. A friend with Carew, attempted to grapple with the assailant, but the man escaped. Sturgis has the incident in his diary, saying that Carew was meant to be giving evidence at a court -martial the next day (does not say which case) and that that trial had to be postponed

Carew's batman was a man called Private Lawrence whom I cannot get any background on with no initials or christian name or regiment

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Didn't we think the batman was Snelling?

Either way, it always seems an odd thing for an intelligence officer to have a batman. "Pass me the grenades, Lawrence, there's a good chap, And have you seen my ivory cufflinks?".

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I must admit that I thought the batman was Snelling and the motorcyclist Private Lawrence, but the Moran book has a multitude of references to them the other way round.

In deference to the book I changed to their rendering (on the assumption that they must have gone into this more deeply than I so far)

I need to see which is which but it will take me a while as names are removed from most original British trial or autopsy reports.

Actually Carew himself refers to the chap as his "servant" rather than "batman", while others call him a batman.

I seem to recall reading on this forum that it depended as to whether it was a time of war as to whether it was a batman or a servant. No idea which was technically correct in Ireland at the time. But as you say, in modern terms, it seems slightly absurd for officers to be having batmen in Dublin at that time

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  • 4 months later...

I never succeeded in extracting a photo of Major Carew from the aged relative in Bulgaria. Closest I have come is this photo of F Coy which identifies Carew as shown in red.

There is unfortunately now enough definition to get a blow up, so I am not really any wiser as to what he looked like :angry:

f-coy-group-7.jpg

In passing if anyone has a better copy of this photo - larger or with better defined numbering, I would be grateful for a copy. There are at least two different numbering used, as with "Cairo Gang" photo, so different IRA units must have had a go at identifying - how correct they are is, of course, debatable. If Reynolds supplied the names, I assume they are correct.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 2 years later...

If anybody is still interested in the topic of 'Major Hallowell Carew', he is my great grandfather, my mother was Dorcas Hutchinson née Hallowell Carew and she was born in Jesseltown, (now Kota Kinabalu) in Borneo, on her father Roy's rubber plantation in 1914.

A family tree link can be found at http://www.gellibrand.com/fam00562.html

His full name was Frank Murray Maxwell Hallowell CAREW and he was born in 1866 and died in 1943. He always gave a younger age than was factual.

Interestingly his grandfather was Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell Carew GCB, (born Benjamin Hallowell), one of Nelson's 'Band of brothers'.

I perhaps got my Christian name 'Max', from him.

PS No photos I'm afraid, my mother's collection of family pictures seems to have been lost to the vagaries of time.

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Thank you for your input on your great grandfather.

As things are going I probably know everything about him, almost down to his inside leg measurement....but that photo still eludes me !

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  • 11 months later...

Need to talk to Maxwilliam about your mother Dorcus Hutchinson n'ee Hallowell Carew, I am related by marrige to her third husband captain Richard Herbert killed in action in North Africa wwll, Libya, they had two children Michael and Ann, I am married to Ann's daughter Rosina, Dorcus your mother married again after your father to,A Michael Corelli I believe he was killed in action  and she then met my wife's grandfather captain Richard Herbert, when he was killed in action in 1942 she abandoned her children to be raised and adopted by Richards parents,they never saw there mother Dorcus again we are desperate to know what became of her I believe with the research that I have done-that she married twice more, always to high ranking naval or army airforce personal. We believe she stayed in the Surrey area of England where we have always lived.her last know address was I think Mortlake.

 

Any help you might offer in our quest would be greatly received.

 

 

Kindest regards

 

W.P.P.Malone

Edited by William malone
Bad spelling
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On 11 November 2015 at 20:12, maxwilliam said:

If anybody is still interested in the topic of 'Major Hallowell Carew', he is my great grandfather, my mother was Dorcas Hutchinson née Hallowell Carew and she was born in Jesseltown, (now Kota Kinabalu) in Borneo, on her father Roy's rubber plantation in 1914.

A family tree link can be found at http://www.gellibrand.com/fam00562.html

His full name was Frank Murray Maxwell Hallowell CAREW and he was born in 1866 and died in 1943. He always gave a younger age than was factual.

Interestingly his grandfather was Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell Carew GCB, (born Benjamin Hallowell), one of Nelson's 'Band of brothers'.

I perhaps got my Christian name 'Max', from him.

PS No photos I'm afraid, my mother's collection of family pictures seems to have been lost to the vagaries of time.

We have photographs of your mother Dorcus with her husband captain Richard Herbert,they were married in Surrey north eastern registras office on the 23rd of August 1939, on the marrige certificate it states her name as Dorcus Eva corelli formally Hallowell Carew and that she was a divorcee, of Fernald Michael Clifford Corelli, Dorcus was 26yrs of age and the photograph shows her with both children, Michael and Ann, he is in uniform and soon to join his regiment the Middlesex regiment in North Africa Libya where he was killed in action on the 13th/2/1943, he was only 30 yrs old.Try to get in touch if you are still around you have a half sister Ann,who would love to meet you ,your half brother Michael unfortunately has passed away sometime ago, there are other photographs also of Dorcus Herbert n'ee Hallowell Carew. The certificate states also that her father was Roy Hallowell Carew, rubber planter as his profession, retired.

Your mother had married Fernald Michael Clifford Corelli in Lincolnshire on the third of June 1933' clearly they were not married for long, I would be intrested to know when she married your father , on the Gellibrand family tree, which I seem not able to access any more,it of course mentioned your father, Hutchinson as. Spouse but that was all it had, no information on you or any other children, any more info on Dorcus would be greatly received,thanks to Ipt for your input but I think if Dorcus did not marry again after captain Richard Herbert, then she could surely not have been buried as Hutchinson, and I have no concrete info on any other marriage, so no change of name to help me find out what happened to her. Thanks to anyone related or not that might know some thing.

 

william.

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21 minutes ago, William malone said:

We have photographs of your mother Dorcus with her husband captain Richard Herbert,they were married in Surrey north eastern registras office on the 23rd of August 1939, on the marrige certificate it states her name as Dorcus Eva corelli formally Hallowell Carew and that she was a divorcee, of Fernald Michael Clifford Corelli, Dorcus was 26yrs of age and the photograph shows her with both children, Michael and Ann, he is in uniform and soon to join his regiment the Middlesex regiment in North Africa Libya where he was killed in action on the 13th/2/1943, he was only 30 yrs old.Try to get in touch if you are still around you have a half sister Ann,who would love to meet you ,your half brother Michael unfortunately has passed away sometime ago, there are other photographs also of Dorcus Herbert n'ee Hallowell Carew. The certificate states also that her father was Roy Hallowell Carew, rubber planter as his profession, retired.

Your mother had married Fernald Michael Clifford Corelli in Lincolnshire on the third of June 1933' clearly they were not married for long, I would be intrested to know when she married your father , on the Gellibrand family tree, which I seem not able to access any more,it of course mentioned your father, Hutchinson as. Spouse but that was all it had, no information on you or any other children, any more info on Dorcus would be greatly received,thanks to Ipt for your input but I think if Dorcus did not marry again after captain Richard Herbert, then she could surely not have been buried as Hutchinson, and I have no concrete info on any other marriage, so no change of name to help me find out what happened to her. Thanks to anyone related or not that might know some thing.

 

william.

Would like add that all our family are remembering captain Richard Herbert at this time killed in action in North Africa Libya on the13th of Febuary 1943' we talk about him and think of him every day as we do all the brave young men who unselfishly gave their lives in both terrible world wars, without him I would we would not have his daughter Ann, and I would not be married to her daughter, his granddaughter Rosina, and our children his great grandchildren, they carry his courage and loyalties with them every day,we will never never forget him or his comrades who died that day.

 

William.

 

 

Edited by William malone
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