Charles Barnwell 1679-1750

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Charles BARNWELL 1705-1774

Biographical Note

Son of Charles Barnwell of Mileham, Norfolk, a member of a long-established gentry family there. Matriculated at St Catherine's College, Cambridge 1695, but did not graduate; admitted at Lincoln's Inn 1699. He lived the life of a country gentleman thereafter, with 3 marriages and 15 children. His eldest son Charles, who inherited the Mileham estate, took his BA at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1728 and after ordination became rector of Beeston, Norfolk and Little Fransham.

Books

The elder Charles used an engraved armorial bookplate labelled "Charles Barnwell Esqr. Mileham Norfolk" (Franks 1570); his son continued to use the plate, but had the bottom line of text ("Mileham Esqr. Norfolk") removed (Franks 1569). An anonymous version of the plate, with no wording beneath the arms, is likely to have been used by another, later member of the family. The extent of the library is not known, but we assume it largely passed down the family through the generations; the will of the rector's eldest son, another Charles (1736-1802) mentions "all my printed books" as part of the inheritance of his brother William (1740-1810), after whose death they were to go to William's son George (1768-1822).

Sources

• Landed families of Britain and Ireland.
• Blatchly, J., Some Suffolk and Norfolk ex-libris, London, 2000, p.34.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.
• Venn, J. and J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge, 1922.