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Edmund Carter (topographer)

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Edmund Carter (died in or before 1788) was an English surveyor, topographer and tutor, known as the author of the first county history of Cambridgeshire.

Life

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In earlier life, Carter was a surveyor, and worked in 1731 on a survey of an estate at Weston Longueville in Norfolk. Some years later he lived in Norwich. By 1743 he had moved to Cambridge, and ran a school near St Botolph's Church.[1]

Carter had a wife and children, and on Cole's account was physically disabled. The family went to Ware, Hertfordshire and then Chelsea, Middlesex, where Carter was again a schoolmaster. He predeceased his wife, who died at the workhouse in Enfield on 15 September 1788.[1][2]

Works

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Planning to write on the history of Cambridgeshire and the University of Cambridge, Carter approached the antiquarian William Cole and was rebuffed. He found local helpers, including John Newcome.[1]

  • The History of the County of Cambridge from the Earliest Account to the Present Time, Cambridge, 1753; updated by William Upcott, London, 1819. It includes a parish-by-parish account of the iconoclasm of William Dowsing of the 1640s. Carter had manuscripts of Thomas Baker to work from, through Newcome.
  • The History of the University of Cambridge from its Original to the year 1753, 1753.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Carter, Edmund" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 9. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ^ Bendall, Sarah. "Carter, Edmund". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4781. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainStephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Carter, Edmund". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 9. London: Smith, Elder & Co.