English scholar and antiquary known especially for a history of Cornwall that gives an interesting picture of a country gentleman's life about 1600.

Entering Christ Church, Oxford, at age 11, Carew later spent three years studying law and subsequently traveled abroad. He entered Parliament in 1584, became high sheriff of Cornwall in 1586, and served as treasurer under the lord lieutenant.

In 1589 he began his Survey of Cornwall (1602; modern edition, 1953). He translated the first five cantos of Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata, as Godfrey of Bulloigne, or the Recouverie of Hierusalem (1594). His last work was The Excellencie of the English Tongue (1614).