Person:George Cary (11)

Biography

In ‘The Devon Carys’, Volume I,^S3 its author, Fairfax Harrison (1869-1938) devotes its Chapter XI (pp. 191-259) to the life of Sir George Cary (1541-1617), whose career reached its apex on 25 April 1603, when he was appointed to the post of "Treasurer and Receiver General of Ireland," – but very shortly following which – with the departure of Lord Mountjoy in June, Sir George Cary was “installed in charge of the government in Ireland and assumed the sword of state in his own right” as ‘Lord Deputy of Ireland’.
Following are some excerpts from that chapter, without the footnotes (except for one); and the inset quotations have been italicized here:

« ... THOMAS Cary (1505?-1567) … had six sons and four daughters: the eldest being Sir George Cary, born soon after his father succeeded to Cockington, whose career we are about to relate, and the fourth son that John Cary, called “of Dudley”, through whom the existing families of Tor Abbey and Follaton descend.

...

His eldest son,

Sir George Cary (1541-1617) of Cockington, born a subject of Henry VIII in the same year as that greater Devon man Sir Francis Drake, and growing up through the reigns of Edward VI and Mary, had an interesting public career under Elizabeth and James I. He did not go to either of the universities but at eighteen his father sent him up to London and entered him at the Inner Temple to study law, in the very month of the accession of Queen Elizabeth.

... [ cont'd on p.198 ]

George Cary, already a person of importance through his marriage, succeeded to his father's estate and became "of Cockington" in 1567, being then twenty-six years of age. Until after the death of his wife in 1581 we get no further glimpses of him except as a party to real-estate transactions." Some of them indicate that his large estate made him an object of interest to the important men of the robe at Westminster.

... [ cont'd on p.199 ]

(In 1586) George Cary, being in his forty-sixth year, was already embarked on a career of public service. Though he began somewhat late in life, he had opportunity to make up for lost time in the mere fact that his name seemed, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to be open sesame. Sir Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon, was first cousin to the queen and high in her councils: every one whose name was Cary or sounded like Cary seemed then to shine by reflected glory and by mere breeding to be qualified for promotion.

It was the association with Walsingham which led to Cary's employment in public business. We find him appointed in the spring of 1584 on a commission with Sir Richard Grenville, another Devon man, his junior by two years, to complete Henry VIII's defensive works at Dover. A year later, when that undertaking was well under way and had devolved upon Cary alone, he writes to Walsingham that he had forwarded fifty artisans from Devon to engage in the work; he himself spent July and August, 1585, at Dover in active superintendence on the ground, when he asked that an extra allowance be made the workmen for speed (shall we say, in modern phrase, time and a half for overtime!), and warned his friend Walsingham against the misrepresentation and gossip to which, at the beginning as at the end of his career, he found himself subject: all he asked for himself was "a warrant for a buck from Odiham Park."

The next year, 1586, Cary was returned to Parliament for the first time as a burgess for the boroughs of Clifton, Dartmouth, and Hardness; and at the ensuing session, during the winter of 1586-87, joined in the Commons petition to the hesitating queen for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. In the next Parliament, that of 1588-89, following in the footsteps of his ancestors, he sat as a knight of the shire for Devon.

This was his last legislative service: it could not have been a particularly interesting experience. Elizabeth's Parliaments showed too much inclination to think for themselves to be encouraged, and they were too loyal to be recalcitrant: they were called only when necessary to vote supplies and were not expected to do anything else. Bacon tells a story that once when the queen asked the speaker what had passed in the house, he wittily replied: "If it please your majesty, seven weeks!" Cary's votes in the House of Commons, as well as his large interest at home, evidently recommended him further to the government, for in 1587, at a moment when the office meant something, we find him appointed a deputy lieutenant for Devonshire under the lord lieutenant William Bouchier, Earl of Bath.

... [ cont’d on p.211 ]

During the ten years after the Armada George Cary continued to take part in public affairs at home. The war with Spain dragged on at sea and in the Low Countries, where Cary's son had gone to learn the trade of a soldier. There was constant apprehension of the invasion of England.

... [ cont'd. on p. 214 - after the "excitement of the (Spanish) Armada" ]

Altogether George Cary led a busy and interesting life during the fifteen years from 1584 to 1599. His activities were those of a private gentleman of large landed interest, who lived on his terres, but recognizing a responsibility to his position, as such Englishmen always have, threw himself heart and soul into the administration of local affairs. It was such necessary work as was at that time going on all over England, but as came under the spot-light of history only when fortune brought great events within a local purview. The fact that George Cary lived on the coast during a period of intense naval activity brought him more to the attention of the privy council and the queen than many others of his class whose shires were less directly exposed to the hostilities of Spain. He seems to have won a reputation for zeal, for scrupulous execution of the commands of authority, and for prompt and correct business habits. For all of this he received in his fifty-seventh year what he doubtless deemed an altogether appropriate reward and the achievement of the climax of his career.

On the last day of February 1597 (o. s.), George Cary of Cockington, Esquire, became Sir George Cary of Cockington, Knight, by the hand of Queen Elizabeth at Whitehall. But as it turned out fate had his greatest responsibility in store for him.

... [ cont'd on p.216 ]

While Lord Cork, relying upon his memory, is mistaken in his dates, for Sir George Cary went to Ireland with the Earl of Essex and not two months after him, his story fits in otherwise with the recorded facts. In March, 1597, Sir Henry Wallop had been treasurer in Ireland for twenty years, and, having incurred the disfavor of the queen as the result of some negotiations with Tyrone, had recently asked to be relieved.(1) Whatever may have been the motive for making a change or for the selection of the new Irish official,(2) on March 15, 1599, letters patent passed the seals at Westminster appointing Sir George Cary of Cockington vice-treasurer and receiver-general in Ireland, with authority “to fill and execute the office of Treasurer at Wars in Ireland.” This formal appointment was followed in a few days by a memorandum of instructions to the new treasurer signed by the queen at Richmond, March 22, 1599:

Instructions for George Carye of Cockington, in the County of Devon, Knight, appointed by us to repair into the realm of Ireland with our cousin the Earl of Essex and to remain there as our Treasurer at Wars:

Having at the suit of Sir Henry Walloppe, now Treasurer at Wars in Ireland, revoked him from that charge in regard of his great years, and of the great account he has to make, we have made choice of you to supply that room. You are to enter into that office from the 1st inst. . . . By our letters patent you are both Treasurer at Wars and Under Treasurer of the Exchequer and further Receiver General of all our Revenues there, which, though they be all places distinct and in their true natures not very convenient to be all in one hand, yet in regard of the great trust we have in you we are pleased they shall so continue.

At the end of the sixteenth century Ireland had reached one of the crises of her tumultuous and unhappy history. Modern historians agree in relating her troubles then and since to the in complete consequence of the extension of the Norman conquest of England across the Irish Sea. ... [Here Fairfax Harrison continues to relate some of the history of Ireland to paint the picture of how it was when Sir George Cary first went there.]

... [ cont'd on p.221 ]

... in March, 1599, Elizabeth sent her ambitious favorite Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, with the title of lord lieutenant, to put down the rebellion. In his company Sir George Cary had his introduction to Ireland. On April 15, 1599, Essex and Gary landed at Dublin. Gary set to work at once upon his duties of organization and administration not only of the local revenues but of the commissariat of Essex's force of 18,000 men, the greatest English army which had ever been collected in Ireland. We see him engaged energetically at his work, presiding in the Irish council in the absence of the lord lieutenant, and doubtless enjoying himself greatly.

In the midst of these occupations the treasurer suffered a blow which we may well believe must have sapped the energies of a man of his age. He lost his surviving son, the bearer of his name, the heir to his estate, his only hope that

This young Elizabethan left a brief but honorable record as a professional soldier.

... [Here follows a section on the life of his son, "Captain George Cary (1562?-1599)"]

... [ cont'd on p.225 ]

Of young George Cary's fate we know nothing more. He was knighted by Essex and died soon after, perhaps of the effects of his wound received at Cahir, perhaps in some other obscure skirmish of that futile campaign. He gave his life like many another English soldier of birth and breeding in the centuries to come: an inconspicuous sacrifice for the establishment of the British empire beyond the seas. ...

... [ cont'd on p.236 ]

... on April 25, 1603, Sir George Cary was appointed to the post of "Treasurer and Receiver General of Ireland," superseding his old function as treasurer at war. In June Mountjoy returned to England, taking Tyrone with him to grace his triumph, and was received by the king with high honor, being made a member of the English privy council: shortly thereafter he was promoted to be Earl of Devonshire.

Sir George Cary was meanwhile installed in charge of the government in Ireland and assumed the sword of state in his own right. His patent as lord deputy has not been found, but it is clear that Mountjoy's entire program was not carried out, for Cary was constituted the king's deputy, not Mountjoy's. Thus in formal documents the address was at first (e.g., a command dated July 1, 1603):

The King to the Lord Mountjoy, Lieutenant of Ireland, and in his absence Sir George Cary, the King's Deputy, These.

Later Mountjoy's name was omitted altogether: his office had been recognized as a sinecure.

... [ Here follows a section relating his time in Ireland ]

... [ cont’d on p.251 ]

But Sir George Cary, for all that he was in his sixty-fifth year when he left Ireland, had no present intention of dying, peacefully or otherwise. He was undoubtedly disappointed in a hope to be raised to the peerage as a reward for his services, but doubtless the Dublin gossip barred his way. He returned to Cockington, a lonely house, for all his own family was gone. There in 1607 he married Lettice, daughter of Robert Rich, first Earl of Warwick of that name and of the celebrated Penelope Devereux, who as Lady Rich was Sir Philip Sidney's Stella and later mistress and wife of Mountjoy. Lettice must have been a child of about fifteen¹ when she was married to a man of sixty-seven. Her family's motive in making this sacrifice of Lettice is apparent, but on his side the marriage stands as a proof of Sir George Cary's dogged character and determination to the very end of his life. For all that her mother and her grandmother were both notoriously what is called "a bad lot," Lettice was a good girl and for ten years did her part bravely and dutifully in caring for her crotchety old husband, as he testified gratefully in his will.

1. Her elder brothers, Robert, second Earl of Warwick, and Henry, Earl of Holland, were born in 1587 and 1590 respectively. It is of interest in relation to her marriage to old Sir George Cary that Lettice Rich was a great-granddaughter of Katharine Cary, wife of Sir Francis Knollys, and sister of the first Lord Hunsdon.

... [ cont’d on p.253 ]

He maintained his interest in life until the very end. In 1606 he acquired the manor of Coffinswell, in 1608 that of Stokenham near Stark Point, and in 1610 the barton of Stantor adjoining Cockington but by far his most characteristic, and, indeed, important act at this time was that, despite his age, he was one of the enterprising Englishmen who came forward at a critical moment in the history of the infant colony at Jamestown to make up the fund of £30,000 then required by "his Majesties Counsil for Virginia ... to settle there a very able and strong foundation of annexing another Kingdom of this Crown." In November, 1610, Sir George Cary subscribed £45 among those members of Parliament and other public men who then contributed £18,000 of the total requirement, as was certified by the Virginia Council under date of February 20, 1611, in its public call for the remainder of the fund.

As a consequence of this act, in the third charter for the Virginia plantations which James I granted under date of March 12, 1612, Cary's name is enrolled with the other subscribers, in order, as the charter says, "that posterity may hereafter know who have adventured and not been sparing of their purses in such a noble and generous action for the general good of their country." Sir George Cary of Cockington was thus, at the end of his life, one of the Founders of Virginia, and, indeed, of the English dominion in America.

For at least three years he was palsied and depended upon the ministrations of his wife and "Mrs. Elizabeth Riche, my wife's gentlewoman," whom he remembered handsomely in his will for "her careful and diligent attendance on me in the tyme of my sicknes."

On February 19, 1617, he died, being in his seventy-seventh year, and was buried in Cockington Church.

His associate in Ireland, Sir George Carew, the late president of Munster, now Baron Carew of Clopton, and later Earl of Totnes, announced the death in a letter to Sir Thomas Rowe, dated February, 1617:

My olld shakynge kinsman, Sir George Cary, sometimes Lord Deputy of Irland, is dead, and his wife is now a riche widdow.

It is a satisfaction to know that Lettice Cary did not long remain a widow but during the same year, 1617, married a man of her own age, Sir Arthur Lake.

Sir George Cary's will, dated August 7, 1614, is an interesting document in several respects. It affords a glimpse of the state maintained at Cockington House ... [ Which here follows until the end of this chapter on the life of Sir George Cary – concluding with some comments about his religious faith ... p.259. ]

...

... His statement of faith in his will is, then, the more significant. It has no sign of the intolerance of the days when the Spaniards landed at Kinsale, no Puritan twang, but indeed something of the serene and comfortable form of the Catholic version of man's belief in the immortality of the soul. Perhaps at the end of his life Sir George Cary was again under the influence of the old Church, the Church of his ancestors. »

The beginning of this chapter eleven, in its entirety, may be accessed at: archive.org. [The full Vol. I, with footnotes, may also be seen from here and/or downloaded as a pdf file.]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Burke, Sir Bermard, C.B., LL.D., Ulster King of Arms, edited by his son. In two volumes : A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 1, London: 1898. p.250.

   « Thomas CARY, inherited the lands of Cockington and Chilson. He m. Mary, dau. of John Southcot, of Bovy Tracy, Devon, and had issue,
   1. GEORGE (Sir), his heir.
   2. John, of Dudley, co. Stafford, m. dau. of — Norton, and had issue,
   Font....1. EDWARD (Sir), of whom presently.
   Font....3. Thomas, of Moulsham, co. Stafford.
   Font....4. Edward, d.s.p.
   Font....5. GEORGE, who inherited Cockington, and the remainder of his uncle the Lord Deputy's estates, m. Elizabeth, dau. of Sir Edward Seymour, Bart., of Berry Pomeroy, Devon, and had (with three younger sons and a dau.), SIR HENRY CARY, Knt., Sheriff of Devon 18 CHARLES I.
   Font....6. Dudley, m. and had issue.
   Thomas Cary was s. at his decease by his eldest son,
   ....SIR GEORGE CARY, Knt., of Cockington, Treasurer of Ireland, and afterwards, Lord-Deputy. Sir George m. 1st, Wilmot, dau. and heir of John Gifford, of Yeo, Devon, and had a dau., Anne, m. Sir Richard Edgcombe, Knt., of Mount Edgcombe. He m. 2ndly, Lettice, eldest dau. of Robert. Lord Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick, but by her (who m. 2ndly, Sir Arthur Lake, Knt.) he had no children.
   Sir George d. 1616, and was s. by his nephew,
   Font..SIR Edward CARY, Knt., of Marldon, Devon. ....  »
   Accessed 11/07/2019 at: books.google.ca

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8} HISTORY OF PARLIAMENT ONLINE > 'CAREY, George (c.1541-1616), of Cockington, Devon.'.

   « Constituency | Dates
   DARTMOUTH | 1586
   DEVON | 1589
   Family and Education
   « b. c.1541, 1st s. of Thomas Carey of Cockington by Mary, da. of John Southcote, of Bovey Tracey. educ. I. Temple 1558. m. (1) c.1561, Wilmot, da. and h. of John Gifford of Yeo, div. w. of John Bury of Colyton, 2s. 2da.; (2) Lettice, da. of Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich, by Lady Penelope Devereux, da. of Walter, 1st Earl of Essex, s.p. suc. fa. 1567. Kntd. 1598.
   ...
   Biography
   ...
   Carey was a natural choice for Parliament, first for a borough in 1586, and next—when George Carey of Clovelly was sheriff of Devon—as junior knight of the shire. ...
   ...
   Carey made his will in 1614, leaving £100 to the poor of Cockington and elsewhere. ... He died 15 Feb. 1616, and was buried at Cockington. His inquisition post mortem names as his heir his brother Richard, then aged over 70. »
   Accessed 11/07/2019 at: historyofparliamentonline.org
   Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6} Harrison, Fairfax. Devon Carys, Vol. 1 (New York: De Vinne Press, 1920), Chapter XI - pp. 191-259.

   Source:Harrison, Fairfax. Devon Carys
   The full Vol. I may be accessed here: archive.org

4.   Nichols, John Gough, ed.: The Herald and Genealogist, Vol. VIII. London: R.C. Nichols and J. B. Nichols, printers to the Society of Antiquaries, 25, Parliament Street, Westminster. 1874. p.84-85, pp.100-101, pp.120-121.

   « BRANCHES OF CARY, OF COCKINGTON, TOR ABBEY, AND FOLLATON, CO. DEVON. (p.81--128)
   (p.81) ...
   George Cary found a richly endowed wife of his own age in Wilmot. the young heiress and sole eventual representative of a line of the Giffards, whose pedigree, unnoticed in the published histories of Devon, is found among the Cary papers, compiled with minute care and proved by complete evidence in the handwriting of her husband. While yet a child of 14 the hand of Wilmot Giffard was bestowed on John Bury, esquire, of Collaton, Devon, but the marriage remained unconsummated for seven years, when proceedings for its dissolution were referred to the arbitrament of Lewis Pollard, esq. on behalf of Bury, and, on the lady's part, to Robert Cary of Clovelly, who had married her mother, Margaret, the widow of John Giffard of Yeo. Archbishop Parker signed the final sentence, and while both were yet under 21, George and Wilmot Cary entered upon a more fortunate union of twenty years. Of the four children of this marriage only the eldest son, George, survived their mother, and he afterwards fell childless in the Irish wars.
   (p.84) ... Sir George Cary was enabled to make large additions to the fair estate derived from his father and his first wife, and, at the time of his death, his rent-roll must have been one of the amplest in Devonshire. ...
   (p. 84) ...
   In 1607-8 he contracted another marriage with Lettice, daughter of Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick, who, after his decease, was remarried to Sir Arthur Lake, Bart. Sir George's death is stated by Prince to have occurred 19 Feb. 1615, but he certainly survived two years later, for the Court Rolls of his Manors prove him to have been living between Nov. 1616 and April 1617, and it was not till Feb. 1617 that George Lord
   Carew was able to write to Sir Thomas Rowe,—" My olld shakinge kinsman Sir George Cary, somtymes Lord Deputy of Irland, is dead, and his wife is now a riche widdow."
   ...
   A large portion of these possessions, including the manor and mansion of Cockington, fell to the share of his namesake and adopted heir George, the youngest but one of the sons of his brother John Cary of Dudley, co. Stafford.
   This George Cary married Elizabeth, a daughter of the now ducal House of Seymour. The contents of a deed printed in the Appendix show that, in early life at least, George Cary displayed tendencies to extravagance, which excited his uncle's misgivings. He nevertheless handed down the Cockington estate, at his death in 1643, to his eldest son and heir, the gallant but unfortunate Sir Henry Cary. ...
   ...
   APPENDIX. (p.98-128)
   ...
   EXTRACTS FROM PARISH REGISTERS. (p.100-104)
   (p.100) ...
   COCKINGTON, DEVON.
   Baptisms.
   1629. Richard Cary the sonne of Dudley Cary and Dorothy his wife was bap: the 8th of Septemb:
   Bridgett Cary the daughter of George Cary, Esq. and Eliza his wife was bap: the 20 of January.
   1640. Grace, daughter of Henry and Amy Cary, Esq. was bap: the 17th of Ja: 1640.
   (p.101) ...
   Burials.
   1633. Wm. Cary, sonne of Dudley Gary, was buryed the 13th May.
   1634. Dorothy Cary, buryed llth Septemb.
   ffrancis, sonne of S^r George Cary, buryed 23 March.
   Henry Cary, buryed the 8th of July 1641.
   George Cary, Esq., buryed the 23 of July 1643.
   Lucius Cary, buryed the 25 of June 1646.
   The Lady Amy Cary was buryed the 16th of June 1652,
   Anne Cary was buryed 24th of Octob. 1653.
   ...
   FROM THE ROYALIST COMPOSITION PAPERS. (pp.104-106)
   (p.105) ...
   Deposition of a servant of Sir Henry Cary, that on the 15 June 1646 the latter's mother and following brothers and sisters were all living in the house with him :—Robert, Edward, John, Theodore, George, Walter, James, Francis, Elizabeth, Bridget.
   ...
   FROM MUNIMENTS AT TORR ABBEY AFFORDING PROOFS OF PEDIGREE. (pp.113-128)
   ... (p.120) ...
   14 Sept , 10 Jas. Deed endorsed in the handwriting of Sir George Cary of Cockington “A Renocation of certaine lands contayned in my first conveyance.” Commencing “To all christian people to whom this present writing indented shall come. Sir George Cary of Cockington, in the county of Devon, Knight, sendeth greeting in our Lord God everlasting,” and proceeds to recite a deed dated 20 Oct., 7 Jas. I. between the said Sir George of the first part, Sir Edward Seymour of Berry Castell, co. Devon, Bart, (by the name of Edward Seymour, Esq.), Sir William Courtenay, of Powderham, Kt., Sir Thomas Denys, of Holcombe Burnell, Kt., Sir Edward Seymour, of Berry Castle, Kt., Sir Thomas Reynell, of West Ogwell, Kt., Sir Edward Giles, of Bowden co. Devon, Kt., William Bastard, of Gerston, Richard Reynell, of Ford, Richard Waltham, of Kenn, co. Devon, Esqrs. John Bingley, of Westminster, Esq., and Tristram Stephens, of Northlew, gent., whereby Sir George undertook to convey to the above parties his manors, lordships, rectories, advowsons, lands, &c, therein mentioned, i.e., the manors of Cockington and Chilston, Marychurch, Coffinswell, Northlew, Asliwater, Bradford, Abbotsham, Meeth, Crediton Galliard, Goodley, Northam, Frithelstock, and Feniton, the rectory of Tormohun and Cockington, and the advowsons of Ashwater, Meeth, Goodley, and Feniton, and also all his manors, lands, &c., in the parishes, villages, towns, &c., of Stantor, Paington, Marldon, Whilborough, Kingscarswell, Dalton, Hookway, Yea, Trew St. James [Taunton], Woolfardisworthy, Yeadcome, Puddington, East Worlington, South Emlett, St. Mary Down, Holleigh, Buckland Brewer, Cockmaton, Bideford, Parkham, Alwington, Littleham, Morthoe, Parnacott, Pyworthy, Hethford, Eastcott, Blackgrove, Mounhouse, Lifton, Tophill, Radford, Overlarkworthy, Bridgewotton, Salterton, Goveshayes, Woodbniy, Sowton al's Clist Fenizon and Honiton's Clist in co. Devon, the manor of Stockland co. Dorset, and a messuage, &c., in Wellington co. Somerset, and all other in England except the mansion called Allington House in Holborn, London, to the use of his nephew George Cary for life, and witnessing that the said Sir George “for and in respecte of the disobedyent, unrulye, and disorderlye caryage of George Cary, gent., his nephew, unto whom the aforesaid premises by way of remaynder are by the said recited deed lymitted and appointed, and for and in respecte of his idle and unthriftie courses, all which have given unto the said Sir George Cary great doubte and fear that hee the said George Cary his nephew (if he bee not otherwise restrayned) will in time consume, mispend, and wast that great estate which hee, the said Sir George Cary, meerely out of former love and affecion hath conferred upon him ; for the preventing whereof in parte, and as much as lyeth in the said Sir George Cary, and to the intent that he the said Sir G. Cary may be the better enabled to advance and preserve Edward Cary and Dudley Cary, gents., two other of his nephewes, the said Sir G. Cary doth in the presence of Sir Robert Riche of Wallington, co. Norf., Kt., Nathaniel Riche of Leeze, co. Essex, Esq., Richard Savery of Willing, John Fowell of Totnes, Robert Savery of Willing, co. Devon, Esqrs., and Chistopher Brooking of Totnes, merchant, revoke the uses of the recited deed except as to the manors of Cockington and St. Marychurch. Sealed with the Cary arms and quarterings.
   .... »
   Accessed at: archive.org
   The Herald and Genealogist, Vol. VIII. London: R.C. Nichols and J. B. Nichols, printers to the Society of Antiquaries, 25, Parliament Street, Westminster. 1874. Edited by John Gough Nichols, F.S.A. Hon. Member of the Societies of Antiquaries of Scotland and Newcastle-on-Tyne, Corresponding Member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society.