 He was the son of Dorothy Cuthbert Carter and Sir John Carter (1741–1808), who served as Mayor of Portsmouth.His paternal grandfather was the merchant John Carter and his maternal grandfather was George Cuthbert of Portsmouth.He was educated at Miss Whishaw and Mr. Forester's schools in Portsmouth followed by the Unitarian Academy in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire in 1800, then at Higham Hill in Walthamstow, Essex in 1801.