Edward Cary or Carey or Carye (died 1618) was an English courtier and Master of the Jewel Office for Elizabeth I and James VI and I.[1]
He was a son of John Cary or Carey of Pleshey (died 1551) and Joyce, daughter of Edmund Denny, and widow of William Walsingham.[2] His homes were at Berkhamsted Place and Aldenham, Hertfordshire. Both houses have been demolished.[3] In 1560, his mother bequeathed silver plate and a velvet bed tester to Edward's half-brother Francis Walsingham.[4] His half-sister Mary Walsingham married Walter Mildmay.[5]
He was a Groom of the Privy Chamber, Keeper of Marylebone Park, Master of the Jewel House jointly with John Astley from August 1595,[6] a teller of the exchequer,[7] and was knighted in 1596.[8]
Cary and Thomas Knyvet were involved in a review of older jewels in 1600 when some pieces were appraised by the goldsmiths Hugh Kayle and Leonard Bush.[9] Some papers and warrants from Cary's tenure at the Jewel House, which passed to Henry Mildmay, are held at the Somerset Heritage Centre.[10] Cary also signed an inventory of Elizabeth's clothes and jewels.[11]
A February 1606 payment to the goldsmith John Williams includes his supply of gold chains and medallions with the king's portrait remaining "under the charge of Sir Edward Cary, Knight, one of the Jewelhouse". Some of the plate made by Williams, in the style of the Tudor goldsmith Cornelis Hayes and destined as diplomatic gifts, remains in the Kremlin.[12] Auditor Gofton managed the accounts of the disgraced Lord Cobham.[13] He delivered Cobham's "garter" and "George" jewels to Cary in March 1605.[14]
Cary died on 18 July 1618 and was buried at Aldenham.
He married Katherine Knyvett (1543–1622),[15] a daughter of Sir Henry Knevet or Knyvett (died 1546) and his wife Anne Pickering, and widow of Henry Paget, 2nd Baron Paget. She was a sister of his colleague at court, Thomas Knyvett.[16] Their children included: