Edward Charles Malet was the grandson of Jean Mallet, Rector of Grouville, and second son of John Mallet, an East India civil servant, and Jane Anne Le Maistre, eldest daughter of Philip Le Maistre, Seigneur of St Ouen.
He was born at Paignton, Devon, on 1 March 1838, and educated in England and France. In 1855 he was gazetted as Lieutenant to the 88th Regiment, the Connaught Rangers, and later transferred to the 25th, the King's Own Scottish Borderers. He served in the Crimea, and in India during the Mutiny, earning the medal and clasp for Central India.
Seigneur
On the death of his elder brother in 1856 he became Seigneur of St Ouen, and in 1859 assumed the name of Malet de Carteret.
When Robert, Lord Carteret, died childless in 1776, St Ouen's Manor passed to Jane Ann Le Maistre, great-great-granddaughter of Francois, son of the famous Sir Philippe. The next two Seigneurs were therefore Le Maistres. When this male line also became extinct in 1848, John Paignton Mallet, and then Edward Charles Mallet, inherited it as sons of the eldest daughter of the last Le Maistre Seigneur.
In 1861 Edward Charles married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Abraham Poingdestre, of La Vieille Maison, St John, whom local papers declared to be the richest man in the island. He then left the Army, and settled in Jersey.
While still an officer in the Regulars, he had taken a commission in the Jersey Militia. In 1857 he had become a Lieutenant with leave of absence in the South-West Regiment. In 1861 he was promoted Captain, and in 1865 he became Lieutenant-Colonel. In the same year he was transferred to be Lieutenant-Colonel of the North-West (the St Ouen) Regiment. He was Aide-de-camp to three successive Lieut-Governors.
Deputy
In 1866 he was elected Deputy of St Ouen, and was re-elected in 1869. In May 1886 he was elected Jurat, and claimed as Seigneur of St Ouen the seat on the Bailiff's left, as senior Jurat. After examination of precedents this claim was granted. He was Lieut-Bailiff from 1889 to 1901, and acted as Juge-Delegue from 1898 to 1899 between the resignation of Sir George Bertram as Bailiff and the appointment of Sir William Vernon.
In the States he was a frequent speaker, and exercised much influence, as most of the country members followed his lead. He was for a long time president of the Defence of the Island Committee.
He was a prominent Freemason. He had been initiated at Colchester in 1859, and in 1869 was installed as Jersey's Provincial Grand Master. Knocker's Freemasonry in Jersey says of him:
- "His rule over the Province extended over a period of 45 years, and toward the end of that time he had the distinction of being the Senior Provincial Grand Master under the English constitution. Those 45 years were marked by great changes for the better in the status of Freemasonry in Jersey. At the commencement of them the craft was far from strong either in numbers or finance, while it was occasionally rent by internal dissensions, and in addition the irregular French lodge working in its midst was a constant source of anxiety. At the end of his reign a far more pleasing picture can be presented of a fraternity strong in numbers and finance, and firmly settled down to a state of harmonious usefulness".
Manor
He devoted many years and much money to the restoration of St Ouen's Manor, the interior of which was in a ruinous state when he inherited it. With Adolphus Curry as architect, the building inside and out was skilfully repaired. The grounds were put in order and, so that the lane past the Manor might become a private avenue, the land on which the present main road runs was transferred to the parish.
The work on the house was finished in 1904, and then the manor chapel of St Anne, which had been used as a barn, was restored and 'reconciled' by the Bishop of Winchester on 5 May 1914.
Farms
Not only did Edward Malet de Carteret spend a considerable sum of money on restoring St Ouen's Manor, but he bought another traditional de Carteret property, Vinchelez de Bas Manor, and built two substantial farmsteads, one close to St Ouen's Manor known as Manor Farm, the other one at Vinchelez, known as Manor Farm, Vinchelez to distinguish between the two. It would appear likely that the acquisition of such a major property portfolio by the son of a civil servant, who inherited St Ouen's Manor through his mother and elder brother, was financed by his wife's inheritance.
Colonel Malet de Carteret was President of the Société Jersiaise from 1906 to 1914.
He died on 2 September 1914 and left four children. Reginald (1865-1935) Jurat (1915-35), Charles Edward (1869-1942) Bailiff (1931-35), Marie (1862-1931), and Margaret (1866- ).
