Edward Carteret (1671–1739) was an English politician and served as

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...

from 1721 until his death.

Life

Edward Carteret was the third son of Philip Carteret FRS of Hawnes and younger brother of

George Carteret, 1st Baron Carteret George Carteret, 1st Baron Carteret (July 1667 – 22 September 1695) was son of Sir Philip Carteret (died 1672) and the grandson of Vice Admiral Sir George Carteret, 1st Baronet (died 1680). His mother was Lady Jemima Montagu, a daughter of Ed ...

. He was educated at Brentwood School and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. Carteret was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

in 1698 and for

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

in 1702. He was returned as MP for

Bere Alston Bere Alston is a village in West Devon in the county of Devon in England. It forms part of the civil parish of Bere Ferrers. History and geography With a population of about 2,000, the village lies in the Bere peninsula, between the river ...

at a by-election on 9 December 1717 and resigned in 1720 when he was made Postmaster General. He was Joint Postmaster General from 1721 to 1732, Postmaster General from 1732 to 1733 and Joint Postmaster General again from 1732 to his death. Carteret died from the stone, suddenly on 15 April 1739. He had married, in 1699, Bridget, the daughter of Sir

Thomas Exton Sir Thomas Exton (1631–1688) was an English admiralty lawyer, Member of Parliament, and Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Life His father was the admiralty lawyer John Exton. He entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1641, was admitted a memb ...

, M.P.,

Dean of the Arches The Dean of the Arches is the judge who presides in the provincial ecclesiastical court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This court is called the Arches Court of Canterbury. It hears appeals from consistory courts and bishop's disciplinary tribun ...

court of Canterbury and judge of the Admiralty. They had 3 sons and 3 daughters.

References

Person Sheet
1671 births 1739 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge United Kingdom Postmasters General English MPs 1698–1700 English MPs 1702–1705 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Bere Alston British MPs 1715–1722 Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for constituencies in Huntingdonshire {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub