Carpenter was the only surviving son of George Carpenter, 2nd Baron Carpenter by Elizabeth (née Petty), of Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire, England. This nobleman married in March 1747/1748, Frances, the only daughter and heiress of Sir Robert Clifton, 5th Baronet, of Clifton, county of Nottingham, England and heiress of her mother, Lady Frances Coote, only daughter of Nanfan Coote, 2nd Earl of Bellamont.
They had six children;
George Carpenter, later 2nd Earl, (1750 – 1805)
Honorary Frances Carpenter, (1751 – 1751/1752) who died as an infant
Lady Almeria Carpenter (abt 1745 – 1809), relationship with William Henry von Hannover, duke of Gloucester and they had Louisa Maria Louisiana Coast Carpenter (1762 – 1835) who married Godfrey Macdonald, 3rd Baron Macdonald of Slate. Honorary Elizabeth Carpenter (1753 – 1753) who died as an infant
Honorary
Charles Carpenter (1757 – 1803), a naval officer and Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed, whose son George succeeded as 3rd Earl of Tyrconnell.
Lady Caroline Carpenter (abt 1759 – 1826) married Uvedale Price, of Foxley. He was created Viscount Carlingford, in the County of Louth, and Earl of Tyrconnell, in the Province of Ulster, in the Peerage of Ireland on 29 May 1761.
This line became extinct in 1853. Lord Carpenter"s Arms appear to be of French or Norman heritage, "Paly of six, argent and gules, on a chevron azure, 3 cross crosslets or." Crest, on a wreath a globe in a frame all or.
Supporters, two horses, party-perfess, embattled argent and gules.
Motto: "Per Acuta Belli" (Through the Asperities of War). These arms descend from John Carpenter, the younger (abt 1372 – 1442) who was the noted Town Clerk of London during the reigns of King Henry V & King Henry VI. These Arms are often referred to as the Hereford Arms, named for the later ancestral home of the Carpenter Family in Hereford, England. The Crest, supporters & motto apparently has changed several times over the centuries.
Sir Noel Paton, upon painting the Family Arms, informed him that the supporters were originally a round-handled sword, which in drawing over time became shortened, until nothing but the cross and globe were left beneath lieutenant
There is no direct male to male Carpenter descent connecting Lord Carpenter and Sir William Boyd Carpenter. The family connection is by marriage through the females in the family.
The Hereford Coat of Arms described above should not be confused with the Arms of Bishop Richard Carpenter (c1450s?–1503) presented in the "Visitations of the County of Oxford taken in 1566, 1574, and 1634, published in 1871, which describe the arms displayed in the buildings at the University in Oxford - "In the Lyberarye of Baliall College." - as recorded by the officials performing the visitations in those years. The Visitations describe the arms of Richard Carpenter (theologian) as: "Paly of nine Gu. and Arizona on a chevron Arg. surmounted by a mitre Or, three cross crosslets of—nine pales alternating red and blue, with a silver chevron bearing three gold cross-crosslets.
Lord Carpenter sat as Member of Parliament for Taunton between 1754 and 1762.
