CARTERET, SIR GEORGE (c. 1610-168o), English poli tician, born between 5609 and 1617, on the island of Jersey, was the son of Helier de Carteret of St. Ouen. In 1639 he was made comptroller of the English navy, and during the Civil War was active on the king's side. Succeeding his uncle, Sir Philip Car teret, as bailiff of Jersey in 1643, he was appointed lieutenant governor of the island in the same year. After subduing the Parliamentary party in the island, he was commissioned (5644) a vice-admiral of Jersey, and as such carried on an active priva teering campaign in the Royalist cause. Under his rule Jersey was a refuge for Royalists, among them Prince Charles (1646 and 1649-50), who created Carteret a knight and baronet. Parliament branded him as a pirate and excluded him from any future am nesty. In 1651 Carteret, after a seven weeks' siege, surrendered Jersey to a Parliamentary force, and, joining the Royalist exiles in France, for a time held a command in the French navy.
He returned to England at the Restoration, became a privy councillor, sat in parliament for Portsmouth, and served as vice chamberlain of the royal household. From 1661 to 1667 he was treasurer of the navy, but was censured by parliament for his lax method of keeping accounts. In 1667 he became a deputy treas urer for Ireland, and was later appointed a commissioner of the Admiralty and a member of the committee of trade and planta tions. Carteret was one of the eight to whom Charles II. granted the country of the Carolinas by the charters of 1663 and 1665, while in 1664 James, duke of York, granted his American terri tory between the Hudson and Delaware rivers to Carteret and to John, Lord Berkeley; this tract was called New Jersey in Car teret's honour. In 1674 Lord Berkeley disposed of his share of the grant, which finally fell under the control of William Penn and his associates. With them Carteret agreed (1676) upon a division of the colony into East and West Jersey. He died in Jan. 168o, and two years later his heirs disposed of his New Jersey holdings to Penn and other Quakers.
Sir George Carteret married Elizabeth George Carteret, daugh ter of his uncle, Sir Philip Carteret. George, son of his eldest son Philip, was created Baron Carteret of Hawnes in 1681.