Career
He held numerous benefices including Archdeacon of Meath and Rector of Youghal, and sat in the Irish House of Commons. After many years as a Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) he was briefly Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. He is buried in Street Canice"s Cathedral, Kilkenny.
He took his name from his birthplace, Carlisle, Cumbria.
They were of fairly humble origin, as suggested by the later comment that William was not a fit person to arrest one of the Wellesley family. He came to Ireland as part of the entourage of Lionel of Antwerp, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1361 and was made Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) in 1367.
He became a prebendary of Street Patrick"s Cathedral the same year and later acquired numerous other prebendaries, including Ossory. His main residence was in Kilkenny.
He was a burgess of the town and died there.
In 1383 the King appointed him Queen"s Attorney. Soon after he was made Chief Baron but died within a few months. William"s duties went far beyond the strictly judicial: he audited accounts, supervised sheriffs elections, inquired into the condition of Crown lands, and into the existence of buried treasure.
His duties involved much labour and expense, and in 1374 he received £20 for, among other expenses, the theft of his horse.
From the limited evidence he seems to have been a proud man with a keen sense of his own dignity: in 1372 Sir William Wellesley, ancestor of the 1st Duke of Wellington, was arrested for disobeying a summons to appear before Karlell, and the following year one Richard Bateman was found guilty of contempt of court for saying that Karlell was not fit to arrest one of Wellesley"s rank, presumably due to his lower social standing. Graves describes his tomb as a coffin-shaped slab, six feet by two, elevated about two feet from the floor of the cathedral, and completely unadorned except for an inscription giving William"s name and clerical offices.
