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]
The auditor Francis Gofton noted in December 1604 that the Queen's gold crown and other items weighing in total 53 ounces were kept by Edward Cary.[12]
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".[13] 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.[14]Auditor Gofton managed the accounts of the disgraced Lord Cobham.[15] He delivered Cobham's "garter" and "George" jewels to Cary in March 1605.[16]
Cary died on 18 July 1618 in London at Cary House in Great Bartholomew's, West Smithfield, and was buried at Aldenham in the chancel of St John the Baptist on 6 August.[17]
He married Katherine Knyvett (1543–1622),[18] 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.[19] Their children included:
Adolphus Cary (died 1609), married Anne Corbett (died 1601) in August 1596.[23] A member of the Earl of Nottingham's embassy to Spain in 1605. He was the subject of an epitaph by John Davies of Hereford, addressed to his brother, Philip Cary.[24] His death from smallpox was investigated by the College of Physicians. William Paddy was exonerated and Dr Antoine was censured.[25]
Philip Cary (died 1631), married Elizabeth Bland
Katherine Cary, who married Henry Longueville of Wolverton in January 1597.[26]
Meriel Cary (died 1600), who married Thomas Crompton of Hounslow and Skerne in October 1597,[29]Elizabeth I wrote to her mother, to "good Kate", on the occasion of her death. She is commemorated by a wall monument at Aldenham. In December 1616, their daughter Catherine Crompton (born 1599),[30] married Thomas LyttletonofHagley (his mother was Meriel Lyttelton).[31]
Edward Cary, by his will, left his gold buttons to be divided between his two younger daughters Manners and Barrett. His widow continued to known as Katherine, Lady Paget. She died in 1622. In her will, she left her new fashionable couch and canopy to her daughter Lady Manners, and her cabinet to Lady Leke.[34]
^M. S. Giuseppi, HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 16 (London, 1933), pp. 385-6.
^Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer during the Reign of King James I (London: Rodwell, 1836), p. 29.
^Timothy Schroder, A Marvel to Behold: Gold and Silver at the Court of Henry VIII (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 243-4, Kremlin Armoury MZ 642, 643: See also PRO E355/1955 & 1956.
^HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 16 (London, 1933), p. 331.
^HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 17 (London, 1938), p. 96.
^Henry W. Aldred, 'Baron Hunsden', William Smith, Old Yorkshire (London, 1890), p. 175.
^Richard Simpson, The Lady Falkland, Her Life (London, 1861), p. 129.
^Amy Kenny, 'Katherine Knyvett Paget Cary', Carole Levin, Anna Riehl Bertolet, Jo Eldridge Carney, A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen (Routledge, 2017), p. 499.
^Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer during the Reign of King James I (London: Rodwell, 1836), p. 305: Calendar State Papers Domestic, 1603–1610, p. 147.
^Heather Wolfe, Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland, Life and Letters (RTM, 2001), p. 108.
^John Nichols, Progresses of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 3 (London, 1823), pp. 497-8: Robert Phillimore, Memoirs and Correspondence of George, Lord Lyttlton, vol. 1 (London, 1845), p. 20: John Noake, Worcestershire Relics (London, 1887), p. 270.
