Family and Education

b. ?1577, 2nd s. of Edward Carey of Aldenham by Catherine, da. of Sir Henry Knyvet of E. Horsley, Surr.; bro. of Sir Henry Carey. educ. G. Inn 1590; Queen’s, Oxf. 1594. m. 9 Aug. 1596, Anne (d.1601), da. and coh. of Robert Corbet of Moreton Corbet, Salop, s.p. Kntd. 1604.2

Offices Held

Biography

The entries of Adolphus Carey and his brother Philip to Gray’s Inn in 1590 and Oxford in 1594 (when Adolphus was said to be ‘aged sixteen’) seem incompatible, and the mistake may be in the Gray’s Inn list. It is also possible, however, that the two Careys, like their elder brother Henry, were made honorary members at this very early age.

Carey apparently did not pursue a legal career, but settled as a country gentleman on his father’s estates at Berkhampstead and married an heiress. In 1602 he purchased for £3,000 the manor of Great Gaddesdon from Robert Cecil. There is no evidence that he was at court before the accession of James I, though it would seem probable. Certainly he was much at Whitehall after 1603, and he was knighted by the King in 1604. He died on 8 Apr. 1609, leaving most of his property to his younger brother Sir Philip Carey. As a local landowner, the son of an important royal official, and the brother of one of the 1601 Hertfordshire knights of the shire, it is probable that Carey needed no outside patron at St. Albans.3

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: Roger Virgoe

Notes

• 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.
• 2. Her. and Gen. iii. 40-4; C2 Eiiz./C6/48.
• 3. Cussans, Herts. Dacorum Hundred, 54; VCH Herts. ii. 203; C142/3008/107; PCC 33 Dorset.