Life

Carne was born on 18 June 1789, probably in Truro

Truro

Truro is a city and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The city is the centre for administration, leisure and retail in Cornwall, with a population recorded in the 2001 census of 17,431. Truro urban statistical area, which includes parts of surrounding parishes, has a 2001 census...

, Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

. His father, William Carne, was a merchant and banker at Penzance

Penzance

Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...

, where he died on 4 July 1838; he married in 1780 Miss Anna Cock, who died on 8 Nov. 1822. His eldest brother was Joseph Carne

Joseph Carne

Joseph Carne was a British geologist and industrialist.-Early life:Carne was born at Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom, the eldest son of William Carne, a banker, and was educated at the Wesleyan school, Keynsham, near Bristol. His younger brother was John Carne...

.

Carne was a member of Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...

, at different times both before and after his journey to the East, but he never resided long enough for a degree. He was admitted in 1826 to deacon's orders by Dr. Michael Henry Thornhill Luscombe, the chaplain of the British embassy at Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, and a bishop of the episcopal church of Scotland; but, except during a few months' residence at Vevey

Vevey

Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne.It was the seat of the district of the same name until 2006, and is now part of the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District...

 in Switzerland, he never officiated as a clergyman.

His father, a strict man of business, desired that his son should follow in his footsteps, but after a short trial of business, during which his literary abilities showed themselves, his father allowed him to follow his own inclinations. His first literary production was brought out anonymously in 1820, and was called Poems containing the Indian and Lazarus.

Carne resolved to visit the holy places, and accordingly left England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 on 26 March 1821. He visited Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, the Levant

Levant

The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, and Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

. In the latter country, while returning from the convent of St. Catharine, he was taken prisoner by Bedouins, but, after being detained for some days, was released in safety. On coming back to England he commenced writing for the New Monthly Magazine an account of his travels, under the title of Letters from the East, receiving from Henry Colburn

Henry Colburn

Henry Colburn , British publisher, obtained his earliest experience of book-selling in London at the establishment of W...

 twenty guineas for each article. These Letters were then reproduced in a volume, dedicated to Sir Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

, which went to a third edition. This book is noticeable for the fact that there is not a single date to be found in it except that on the title-page. The publication of this work and his talents for society brought him into familiar intercourse with Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

, Southey

Robert Southey

Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...

, Campbell, Lockhart

John Gibson Lockhart

John Gibson Lockhart , was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the definitive "Life" of Sir Walter Scott...

, Jerdan

William Jerdan

William Jerdan , Scottish journalist, was born at Kelso, Scotland.During the years between 1799 and 1806, he spent short periods in a country lawyer's office, a London West India merchant's counting house, an Edinburgh solicitor's chambers, and held the position of surgeon's mate on board H.M...

, and other distinguished men of letters.

He next published Tales of the West, 1828, 2 vols., treating of his native county. Among those who knew him his fame as a story-teller far exceeded his renown as a writer, and social company often gathered round him to be spellbound by some exciting or pathetic narration. During the latter part of his life he resided chiefly in Penzance. Oppressed by the infirmities of a premature old age, he had ceased for some years before his death to engage in any literary pursuits. While preparing to set out for the shores of the Mediterranean he was attacked with a sudden illness and died at Penzance on 19 April 1844, when his remains were buried in Gulval

Gulval

Gulval is a village in the former Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. Although historically a parish in its own right, Gulval was incorporated into the parishes of Penzance, Madron and Ludgvan in 1934, and like Heamoor, is now considered to be a suburb of Penzance...

 churchyard.

Works

Besides the works already mentioned, Carne was the author of

• Letters from the East 1826, London, Henry Colburn
• Stratton Hill, a Tale of the Civil War 1829, 3 vols
• Recollections of Travels in the East 1830
• The Exiles of Palestine, a Tale 1831, 3 vols
• Lives of Eminent Missionaries 1833, 3 vols
• Letters from Switzerland and Italy 1834
• Lives of Eminent Missionaries 1844
• Lives of Eminent Missionaries 1852, 3 vols.

He was also a writer in the New Monthly Magazine, the Forget-me-not, the Gem, the Keepsake, and other works.

Family

At the age of twenty-five, in 1824, he married Ellen, daughter of Mr. Lane, a drawing-master of Worcester

Worcester

The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...

. Her brother, Theodore Lane, an artist and exhibitioner at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

, died after falling through a skylight at the horse bazaar in Gray's Inn Lane on 21 May 1828, when his daughter Emma was adopted by her uncle. Mrs. Carne married, secondly, Henry Harrington Clay, and died at Penzance on 2 Feb. 1868, aged 67.

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