He should not be confused with his near namesake and second cousin[3]Sir George Carew, later Earl of Totnes, who also held posts in Ireland at the same period.
He was the eldest son and heir of Thomas Cary (died 1567) lord of the manor of Cockington, by his wife Mary Southcott, a daughter of John Southcott of Indio, Bovey Tracey, Devon, who was a clerk of the peace.[4] Thomas Cary's Easter Sepulchre type monument survives in St Saviour's Church, Tor Mohun. Thomas Cary was the second son of Robert Cary (died 1540), lord of the manor of Clovelly in Devon.[citation needed]
In 1601, Cary was responsible for the introduction of a newly debased Irish coinage and was accused in the Exchequer of Pleas of enriching himself in the process. Although the case was prolonged for several years nothing was ultimately proven, which may explain the words free from all filthy fraud that are inscribed on Isaac Oliver's miniature portrait of him (illustrated above).[1]
Monumental brass of Wilmota Giffard (d.1581), first wife of Sir George Cary. St Saviour's Church, Tor Mohun
Cary married twice:
Firstly in about 1561, to Wilmota Giffard (1540/1–1581),[2][5] daughter and sole heiress of John Giffard of Yeo Vale, Alwington, North Devon, and step-daughter of Robert Cary (died 1586) of Clovelly, Devon, half-uncle to Sir George Cary. Cary was her second husband; she was previously the wife of John Bury (1540–1574) of Colleton in the parish of Chulmleigh, Devon, whom she had married when both parties were aged only 13, and contrary to ecclesiastical law. Bury was said by Pole to have been "simple",[6] and the couple were divorced in 1560 by Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury.[7] Her monumental brass survives in St Saviour's Church, Tor Mohun. Its inscription states that she had two sons and three daughters by Carey.[8] These included:[4]
Thomas Cary, died childless;
Sir George Cary, killed in the Irish Wars and stated by Risdon (died 1640) to have been "a great commander in the wars".[9] He predeceased his father and died childless;
As his own children all died without issue, his heir to Cockington was his nephew George Cary,[12] the fifth son of his younger brother John Cary of Dudley, Staffordshire, and husband of Elizabeth Seymour, a daughter of Sir Edward Seymour, 1st Baronet (died 1613), of Berry Pomeroy in Devon, grandson of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector[13] and uncle of King Edward VI.
The arms of Sir George Cary, of four quarters, as displayed on the monumental brass to his first wife and on his father's monument, are as follows:[citation needed]
1st: Argent, on a bend sable three roses of the field (Cary, with a crescent for the difference of a second son);
2nd: Or, three piles in point azure (Bryan of Tor Bryan, Devon, for Jane de Bryan, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Guy de Bryan (died 1396) of Tor Bryan, Devon, wife of Sir John Cary;[14]
3rd: Gules, a fess between three crescents argent (Holleway of Holway in North Lew, for Margaret Holleway, daughter and heiress of Robert Holleway, wife of Sir John Cary (d.1395) (son of Margaret de Bryan), Chief Baron of the Exchequer);[15]
4th: Azure, a chevron argent between three pears pendant or (de Orchard), Sir Philip Cary (died 1437) of Cockington (great-grandfather of Thomas Cary (died 1567) married Christiana Orchard, daughter and heiress of William Orchard of Orchard in Somerset.
^Both were descended from Nicholas Carew "Baron Carew" (d.1470), of Mohuns Ottery in Devon, Sir George Cary via his paternal grandmother Jane Carew (Vivian, pp.135, 150-1)
^Source (with corrections): Fairfax Harrison (of Belvoir House, Fauquier County, Virginia), The Devon Carys, 2 vols., New York, 1920, vol.1, p.198, note 2.
^Risdon, Tristram (died 1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.149
