Sir John Carey, of Plashey was a courtier to King Henry VIII.
Background
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.
Career
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.
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. Joyce was also the widow of William Walsingham, by whom she had had seven children, including Sir Francis Walsingham.
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. Carey died on the ninth of September, 1552 in Hunsdon, Hertfordshire and was buried in Hunsdon church.
Membership
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.