George Alfred Carthew

The Church of St Nicholas, East Dereham. Carthew worked in East Dereham for most his life, and published several works on the history of town and its church.

George Alfred Carthew (20 June 1807 – 21 October 1882) was an English antiquarian, local historian, and genealogist, though he worked as a solicitor for most of his life.

Early life and legal career George Alfred Carthew was born on 20 June 1807, in Redenhall with Harleston, Norfolk, to the solicitor George Carthew (1777–1861) and his wife Anne (1785–1858), daughter of Peter Isaack of Wighton. His family could trace its lineage back to St Issey, Cornwall, where they resided until Thomas Carthew (Carthew's great-grandfather) inherited Benacre Hall in Suffolk in the early-18th-century. Similarly, Goodwin in Carthew's 1887 DNB entry, notes that "this admirable specimen of a county history, skilfully arranged and skilfully executed, illustrated by lithographs, plans, and facsimiles, is unrivalled for the completeness of the manorial descents."