Background
He was the eldest son of John Caley, a grocer in Bishopsgate Street, London.
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John Caley
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In 1787 he received from Lord William Bentinck, as clerk of the pipe, the keepership of the records in the Augmentation office, in place of H. Brooker. And in 1818, on the death of George Rose, he was appointed keeper of the records in the ancient treasury at Westminster. Meanwhile he had entered Gray"s Inn, on 11 January 1786, but never proceeded to the Barometer
When the first Record Commission was nominated in 1801, Caley was appointed secretary, an office which he continued to hold until the dissolution of the commission in March 1831.
A special office, that of sub-commissioner, to superintend the arranging, repairing, and binding of records, was created for him, with a salary of £500 a year, besides retaining his two keeperships. Caley died at his house in Exmouth Street, Spa Fields, on 28 April 1834, aged 71.
His library, rich in topography and collections of reports and searches made by him as a legal antiquary during a period of fifty years, was sold by Evans in the following July. Several of his manuscripts were acquired by the British Museum.
To Caley"s influence were attributed many of the scandals of the Record Commission.
He had critics in the arranging and binding of the records. And he also removed the seals from documents. Applicants for historical documents had to apply at Caley"s private house, a costly and unreliable process.
The only indexes were in Caley"s possession at his house.
Membership
Royal Society.
