John Carey (courtier)

John Carey
Arms of Cary: Argent, on a bend sable three roses of the field[1]
Bornc. 1491 (1491)
Died1552 (aged 60–61)
SpouseJoyce Denny
Children2, including Edward
MotherEleanor Spencer
RelativesWilliam Carey (brother)
Eleanor Carey (sister)
Robert Spencer (grandfather)
Eleanor Beaufort (grandmother)
William Cary (grandfather)
Henry Cary (grandson)
Quartered arms of Sir John Cary, quarterly of 4: 1&4: Cary; 2&3: Spencer of Ashbury in Devon, as visible in the heraldic east window of St Lawrence's Church, Mereworth, Kent[2][3]

Sir John Cary (or Carey) (c. 1491 – 1552), of Pleshey in Essex, was a courtier to King Henry VIII, whom he served as a Groom of the Privy Chamber, and of whom he was a third cousin, both being 4th in descent from John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (1371-1410).[4]

  1. ^ Vivian, p.150
  2. ^ Mereworth was associated with the Walsingham family, first husband of Joyce Denny, wife of Sir John Cary; Sir John Cary has omitted quartering the arms of Beaufort, as he was entitled to do and as his descendants did. Possibly a prudent decision, as in the reign of the unstable and paranoid King Henry VIII any quartering of the royal arms could be taken as a sign of pretence to the throne, and thus could result in imprisonment and execution
  3. ^ Councer, C. R. (1962). "Heraldic Painted Glass in the Church of St. Lawrence, Mereworth". Archaeologia Cantiana. 77: 48–62, esp. p.50 et seq. Open access icon
  4. ^ Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset was the third surviving son of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, the eldest of the four legitimised children of John of Gaunt (1340-1399) (third surviving son of King Edward III) by his mistress, Katherine Swynford