John Carey (courtier)

Sir John Carey, of Plashey (ca. 1491-1552) was a courtier to King Henry VIII. He served the king as a Groom of the Privy Chamber, and, being a descendant of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, John Carey was a third cousin to Henry VIII.

Carey was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Carey of Chilton Foliat in Wiltshire and his wife Margaret Spencer. By July 1522 he was serving in the royal navy as the captain of the King’s ship, The Katherine Galley which was in the Channel between Cinque Ports and Jersey during Henry VIII’s first war with Francis I.

By 1526 John, probably through the influence of his younger brother William Carey was at Henry VIII's court as a Groom of the Privy Chamber.

Several historians credit John Carey with convincing Anne Boleyn (his sister-in-law as John's brother William was married to Anne's sister Mary) to support his sister Eleanor as a candidate for abess of Wilton Abbey where she was a nun in the spring of 1528. Eleanor did not get the appointment, however, due to questionable conduct on her part. Later that year John Carey fell ill with the sweating sickness. Although he recovered, his brother William who had also fallen ill was not so fortunate and died in June 1528.

John Carey married Joyce Denny, the daughter of Sir Edmund Denny of Chestnut and his wife Mary Troutbeck probably in late 1538. Joyce was also the widow of William Walsingham, by whom she had had seven children, including Sir Francis Walsingham. Together John and Joyce Carey had two sons, Sir Edward Carey of Aldenham (a member of Parliament in the late 16th century) and Wymond Carey.

On 21 July 1538 John Carey was granted the priory of Thremhall in Essex where he often lived. By September 1542 he had returned to sea as a vice-admiral commanding the transports of the East Coast in support of the Duke of Norfolk’s expedition against Scotland.

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