He became a stannary commissioner for the Duchy of Cornwall in 1532 and the following year was appointed deputy to the receiver-general Thomas Arundell.[1] In 1536 he became a JP in Devon and Cornwall.[1] He served as receiver-general for the lands of three of Henry VIII's six wives: Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Parr and as treasurer of the household for Catherine Parr. In April 1545 he was appointed treasurer of the Court of First Fruits and Tenths. In December 1546, Carew was one of three commissioners, along with Sir John Gates and Sir Richard Southwell, sent to seize and inventory Kenninghall Palace, residence of Thomas Howard, third duke of Norfolk.
He was created a Knight of the Order of the Bath at the coronation of Edward VI in February 1547.[10] He was elected member of Parliament for Peterborough in the first parliament of the reign in preference to a local candidate, presumably through the influence of supporters of the Duke of Somerset.[1]
During the 1540s he supplemented his West Country estate with purchases of property nearer London, including the manor of Pishiobury, Hertfordshire and Brooke House and the manor of Hackney, Middlesex. He died intestate at Hackney in August 1549. As he died in office, his wife and eldest son Thomas had some difficulty sorting out his estate and some of his accumulated lands were sold to pay his debt to the Crown.[1] Of his numerous children only five are known to have survived childhood: Thomas, Roger, Matthew, Anthony and Elizabeth, who married George Dacres.
