Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 09.djvu/161

 From the Foudroyant he was sent in the following year to North America in the Diamond frigate, and from her was transferred to the Sultan, in which he was present in the action off Grenada, 6 July 1779. In 1780 he was for some time in the Sandwich, bearing Sir George Rodney's flag, and was appointed from her to the Intrepid as acting lieutenant, in which capacity he was present in the action off Martinique, 30 April 1781, and in that off the Capes of Virginia, 5 Sept. 1781. He was not confirmed in his rank till 18 April 1782. In 1793 he was appointed to the Boyne, flagship of Sir John Jervis in the West Indies, and was promoted by the admiral to the command of the Nautilus, 9 Jan. 1794. He was then employed on shore at the reduction of Martinique, and on 25 March 1794 was posted to the command of the Bienvenu, prize-frigate, from which he was moved in rapid succession to the Veteran of 64 guns and the Alarm of 32. He continued actively employed in the West Indies till the following year, when he returned to England. In 1799 he was appointed to the Leviathan of 74 guns, bearing Sir John Duckworth's flag in the Mediterranean and afterwards in the West Indies, whence he was compelled to invalid; and, taking a passage home in a merchant ship, he was captured by a French man-of-war and carried to Spain as a prisoner. He was, however, shortly afterwards exchanged through the exertions of Lord St. Vincent, and for a short time had command of the San Josef. From 1803 to 1810 he had charge of the Devonshire Sea Fencibles, and in 1811 went out to Newfoundland in the Antelope, again as flag-captain to Sir J. T. Duckworth. It was only for a year, for on 12 Aug. 1812 he became a rear-admiral. He had no further service, but was advanced in course of seniority to be vice-admiral on 12 Aug. 1819, and admiral on 10 Jan. 1837. He died on 16 March 1845.

 CARPENTER, JOHN (1370?–1441?), town clerk of London, son of Richard Carpenter, a citizen of London, and Christina, his wife, was probably born about 1370, and educated for the profession of law. On 20 April 1417 he was chosen town clerk or common clerk of the city, after having held an inferior post in the town clerk's office for some years previously. Carpenter was well acquainted with John Marchaunt, his predecessor, and was one of the executors of Marchaunt's will in 1421. As town clerk Carpenter frequently addressed letters to Henry V on behalf of the corporation, and very soon after his appointment began a compilation of the laws, customs, privileges, and usages of the city, extracted from the archives of the corporation. This important work, which was entitled the ‘Liber Albus,’ was completed in November 1419, and was printed from the Guildhall manuscript for the first time in the Rolls Series in 1859. Carpenter was the intimate friend of the far-famed Sir Richard Whittington, who was lord mayor for the third time in 1419, and as one of the executors of Whittington's will was busily employed in 1423 and the following years in carrying out Whittington's charitable bequests. On 23 Feb. 1431 Carpenter and his wife, whose christian name was Katharine, received from the corporation an eighty years' lease of property in St. Peter, Cornhill, at a nominal rental; on 20 Nov. 1436 he was elected one of the representatives of the city in parliament; on 14 Dec. following he was granted a patent of exemption from all summonses to serve on juries or to perform other petty municipal duties. In 1438 Carpenter resigned the town clerkship; during his twenty-one years of office he was sometimes styled ‘secretary,’ a designation which no other town clerk is known to have borne. On 26 Sept. 1439 Carpenter was re-elected member of parliament for the city; but he had now resolved to retire from public life. On 3 Dec. following he obtained from Henry VI letters patent exempting him from all military and civil duties. He was thus relieved of the necessity of attending parliament and of receiving the honour of knighthood. On 10 June 1440 the mayor and aldermen voted Carpenter a gratuity of twenty marks, and in 1441 he defended the sheriffs in a lawsuit preferred against them by the dean of the collegiate church of St. Martin-le-Grand. In the same year Carpenter, conjointly with another [q. v.], afterwards bishop of Worcester, and John Somerset, chronicler of the exchequer, received from the crown a grant of the manor of Theobalds in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. He probably died in 1441. On 8 March of that year Carpenter drew up a will disposing of his personal property, and a copy of this document is still extant. From it we learn that Carpenter lived in the parish of St. Peter, Cornhill, in whose church he desired to be buried. He left large sums of money, together with his jewels and household furniture, to his wife, and similar gifts to his brothers, Robert and John, and their children. To the religious foundations in and near London he also bequeathed gifts of