Carr, Katherine
Katherine Carr
Active around 1670
London, Fleet Street, Middle Temple Gate
Katherine Carr was the wife of John Carr and they ran a shop together in a premises within the Middle Temple Gate on Fleet Street. Elizabeth comes to prominence in March 1672 during the Third Dutch War, when the shop was raided by a naval press-gang during the mobilisation of the British fleet at Sole Bay. According to a deposition found in the Calendar of State Papers Domestic, (Charles II, 6 May 1672, 472), Captain Richard Sadlington of the fifth rate (32 gun) frigate the Dartmouth had entered Carr's shop, where he had pressed into service the two boys who were there. One of them, John Hudgebutt was her 'apprentice for the trade of Instruments', whilst the other named Stephkin was a musician and servant of the King. According to the deposition, 'the Captain told her, if she would give him a violin out of her shop, he would release the prentice'. It appears that both boys were pressed into the Navy, but a timely deposition by Elizabeth Carr within hours secured their release. The Carr's relationship with the legal community of the the Inns of Court, out of which Roger North, secretary of the Middle Temple was a special friend, and the proximity to the Navy Office in Somerset House no doubt enabled a swift deposition to be made. The same day, Prince Rupert ordered the two boys discharge from the Dartmouth.
Katherine's significance within the shop is referenced a second time in the 1687 Comes Amores: or the Companion of Love which includes the following.
Benjamin Hebbert
www.hebberts.com
Active around 1670
London, Fleet Street, Middle Temple Gate
Katherine Carr was the wife of John Carr and they ran a shop together in a premises within the Middle Temple Gate on Fleet Street. Elizabeth comes to prominence in March 1672 during the Third Dutch War, when the shop was raided by a naval press-gang during the mobilisation of the British fleet at Sole Bay. According to a deposition found in the Calendar of State Papers Domestic, (Charles II, 6 May 1672, 472), Captain Richard Sadlington of the fifth rate (32 gun) frigate the Dartmouth had entered Carr's shop, where he had pressed into service the two boys who were there. One of them, John Hudgebutt was her 'apprentice for the trade of Instruments', whilst the other named Stephkin was a musician and servant of the King. According to the deposition, 'the Captain told her, if she would give him a violin out of her shop, he would release the prentice'. It appears that both boys were pressed into the Navy, but a timely deposition by Elizabeth Carr within hours secured their release. The Carr's relationship with the legal community of the the Inns of Court, out of which Roger North, secretary of the Middle Temple was a special friend, and the proximity to the Navy Office in Somerset House no doubt enabled a swift deposition to be made. The same day, Prince Rupert ordered the two boys discharge from the Dartmouth.
Katherine's significance within the shop is referenced a second time in the 1687 Comes Amores: or the Companion of Love which includes the following.
A CATCH BY WAY OF EPISTLE, SETT by Mr. HENRY PURCELL.
To all lovers of musick, performers and scrapers,
To those that love catches, play-tunes, and cut capers,
With a new catch I greet you, and though I say it that should'n,
Like a fiddle the musick, though the words are but wooden,
But my brother John Playford and I shall present you,
Ere long, with a book I presume will content you.
'Tis true we know well the sale of good musick,
But to hear us perform would make him sick, or you sick,
My maggott-man Sam, at the first Temple gate,
Will further inform you, if not my wife Kate,
From between the two Divels near Temple Bar,
I rest your friend, and servant, John Carr.
Benjamin Hebbert
www.hebberts.com
