Person:Henry Cary (11)

Biography

In the Devon Carys, Volume I,^S1 its author, Fairfax Harrison (1869-1938) devotes its Chapter XII — 'THE CAVALIERS OF COCKINGTON', to those of this Cary family, who remained loyal to their monarch during the civil war with Parliament - some of whom would take up arms in the royalist cause. This was certainly the case, at least initially, for Henry, the eldest son of George Cary(c.1578 - 1643), Esq. of Cockington. And perhaps inevitable considering his mother, was a "daughter of Sir Edward Seymour, Bart, of Berry Pomeroy, near Totnes, and a great-granddaughter of the Protector Somerset". Here we will pick up his story, as recounted by Fairfax Harrison, from the death of his father (The footnotes, renumbered here, are converted into end-notes and listed within the reference source for this below)^S1 :--

« When in July, 1643, (George Cary, Esq., of Cockington) died,¹ he left a large family of children.²

The eldest son, SIR HENRY CARY (1613-1665), was then thirty years of age. In 1634 he had married his neighbor Amy, daughter of Sir James Bagge, of Saltram, and on coming into his estate was already the father of two of his five recorded children. When war came he immediately offered his services to the king, doubtless through his Seymour relatives, who were staunch Royalists, and in 1642 was enrolled as major in Colonel William Ashburnham's regiment.³ In 1643 he was appointed high sheriff of Devon and promoted colonel, when he raised and commanded a new regiment,

.............................................unable to stoop
....................And see the rogues flourish and honest men droop,
....................Marched them along, fifty score strong,
....................Great hearted gentlemen, singing this song:

....................God for King Charles! Pym and such carles
....................To the Devil that prompts 'em their treasonous parles!
....................Cavaliers, up! Lips from the cup.
....................Hands from the pasty, nor bite take nor sup
....................Till you're
..............................Marching along, fifty score strong,
..............................Great hearted gentlemen, singing this song!

On July 30, 1644, King Charles knighted him at Crediton.⁴

He seems to have been stationed in Exeter during the leaguer of the winter of 1645,⁵ but we next hear of him in command of the Kingswear fort at Dartmouth on the approach of the Parliamentary army in January, 1646.

The war had now definitely turned in favor of the Parliament. After organizing the "New Model" army the young Parliamentary general Sir Thomas Fairfax had decisively defeated the king at Naseby (June 14, 1645). While Charles retired to Oxford, Fairfax turned west to meet the last Royalist army of any strength. At Langport, in Somerset, he defeated his old antagonist Goring; Bridgewater fell on July 24; and Bristol, into which Prince Rupert had thrown himself, was stormed after a three weeks' siege. The Royalists still in arms held Exeter and Dartmouth, with a substantial following throughout Devon and Cornwall, where the Prince of Wales was in nominal command. In October Fairfax found that after their arduous campaign his army was sick and weary, and so went at once into winter quarters to recruit his strength, but he had no intention of keeping quiet. A line of posts was established to block the strong city of Exeter in preparation for a siege, if necessary, in the spring, while Lord Goring was held at bay in Cornwall. In January, 1646, Fairfax reported his army sufficiently animated in health and spirits to permit him to open a new campaign at an unprecedented season. In the midst of snow and winter storms he determined to attempt the capture of Dartmouth in order at the same time to relieve Plymouth, which, though held in the Parliamentary interest, was under siege. After arranging with Captain Batten, commanding a Parliamentary squadron off the south coast, to blockade the river Dart, and so cut off escape by sea, Fairfax marched down the valley and summoned Dartmouth. He received a resolute denial from the governor. Sir Hugh Pollard, a stout Devonshire knight in command of a strong and well supplied garrison, most of whose officers were his neighbors and kinsmen, Carys, Seymours, and Fulfords.⁶ Without a moment's hesitation, Fairfax prepared to storm, a project which, considering the natural strength of the place and the season, illustrates his own audacity and the dogged confidence of his army. On Sunday night, January 18, 1646, the assailants were given the watchword "God with us," and as an identification the soldiers were directed to leave "their shirts out before and behind." ...

Here Mr. Harrison concludes this part of the story by quoting from the Parliamentary general "Fairfax's graphic and nervous despatch, at Dartmouth) reporting his proceedings"⁷ (dated Jan. 20, 1645 (O.S.) - in which he makes mention of his adversary, Sir Henry Cary.

"Our dragoons, with two companies of our fire-locks and some seamen were only to alarm Kingsworth fort, wherein was Sir Henry Cary with his regiment, having in it twelve guns and twelve barrels of powder and convenient proportions of ammunition. This was a very strong fort with about four good bulwarks, strong enough to make a troublesome resistance: but the enemy came willingly to terms:⁸ and to save time I willingly condescended to let Sir Henry Cary march away with the rest, leaving the arms, ordnance, ammunition, with all provisions in the fort, to me, and all engaging themselves never to take up arms more against the parliament: which was accordingly performed. ...."

Having possessed himself of Dartmouth by these vigorous measures, Fairfax returned to Totnes, summoned the country, organized a new regiment, and so made his way to Exeter. After investing that city effectively, he marched to head off Sir Ralph Hopton, who had meanwhile succeeded Goring in command of the Royalist army in Cornwall and now was pushing across North Devon with the purpose of interrupting the blockade of Exeter. At Torrington Hopton was overtaken and defeated, and on March 14 the Royalist army in the west capitulated. The Prince of Wales had meanwhile escaped to Scilly and thence to France. Exeter surrendered on April 9, Oxford on June 20, and the king fled to the Scots. The campaign was over and the Parliament triumphant.

Thus began and ended Sir Henry Cary's brief career as a soldier. On Monday morning January 19, 1646, he had marched out of Kingswear with his regiment, having saved his honor and gained such small credit as might be due to the only force at Dartmouth which were not prisoners. He returned to Cockington, and there we find him on June 15 surrounded by his mother, his eight brothers, and his two sisters.⁹ His property was at once sequestered. He petitioned to be admitted to composition, alleging that "being very young at the time of the troubles he was persuaded to take up arms for the King," a claim which was not ingenuous, as he was thirty years of age at the time. He was fined £1985, estimated to be one tenth of his estate, and on December 24, 1647, received a pardon under the great seal: he paid the fine and his estate was restored to him. In April, 1651, while the preparations were making for Charles II's invasion of England, which ended at Worcester on September 3, Sir Henry's property was again sequestered. He claimed at the time "good behavior and peaceful demeanor towards the present authority" and asked to be advised of the new charges against him.¹⁰ While it does not appear what came of this last proceeding, and Sir Henry had undoubtedly kept his parole not to bear arms against the Parliament, the government had good cause to keep him under surveillance. Years afterwards he represented to Charles II that at this time he had made disbursements and payments for his majesty amounting to £28,600, as he could prove by witnesses; that he once had receipts for these sums but they were seized, he says, by General Desborough's officers, who plundered his whole house.¹¹

To raise and equip his regiment, to pay his fine and to provide funds for his large disbursements for account of the king. Sir Henry Cary had, of course, borrowed heavily and at ruinous rates. Finally and inevitably, some time in 1654, he was forced to relinquish Cockington and his other property for a sum "less than £30,000," which he subsequently claimed was inadequate for an estate which in 1642 had produced an income of £695.

And so the manor which had been acquired by the Chief Baron in 1374, for more than two hundred and seventy-five years, with the exception of one generation, had been the chief seat of Cary of Devon, and had been twice recovered after attainder, passed finally into the hands of strangers.¹²

In June, 1652, Sir Henry Cary's wife died and was buried at Cockington, leaving him with five children, the eldest, Grace, twelve years of age, and the youngest, Hastings, christened on May 12, 1652, and so doubtless the cause of his mother's death. The tradition is that after parting with Cockington, Sir Henry took his motherless children and left England. Prince says he "was forced to travel beyond seas into foreign countries," and suggests that it was into France and the Low Countries.¹³ Wherever he went. Sir Henry soon returned to England and brought his children with him; when, we do not know. He had meanwhile married a second time Mary Chichester, a niece of that lord deputy of Ireland who succeeded Sir George Cary. This lady was already twice a widow, but her third husband buried her with her first, in Marystow Church, in 1657."¹⁴

On the Restoration (1660) we find Sir Henry in London in great distress. He began at once to petition the king for relief, setting up his past services and disbursements to the king's use, but without avail for several years. Prince records a tradition that "he was obliged for his bread to the charity of well disposed gentlemen,"¹⁵ a description not unwarranted by Sir Henry's own language in a petition to Charles II in August, 1663, that he then has "neither food, raiment nor lodging for his family" and "must perish by sickness and famine."¹⁶

The king responds to this pitiful appeal for relief with a "free gift" of £200, and a promise of £1000 additional "charged on some persons in Hertfordshire." Sir Henry never collected on this promise. At another time he petitioned for the farm of the excise in Norfolk, and not getting that asked the king to direct Sir William Courtenay of Powderham and others to report on the circumstances of the sale of Cockington, to the end that the purchase price might be adjudged to be inadequate and the purchaser be required to pay more. Such a commission was issued, but what came of it does not appear. In the meanwhile, on February l0, 1663, Sir Henry had married his daughter Grace, now twenty-one, to one "Robert Busby of St. Bride's, London, gent., bachelor, aged about 25," and doubtless feeling on her departure the lack of any feminine care in his household, whatever that household was, in May, 1663, himself married a third wife, one Martha Andrews, describing himself as "of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, widower, age 46," and the lady as "spinster, age 30,"¹⁷

We may hope that Sir Henry had some happiness in this last marriage, for he was evidently consuming his heart with hope deferred in respect of substantial relief from the king. He did not have much longer to wait for eternal relief. On October 4, 1665, he was buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbey.¹⁸ Practically his line ended with him. His sons all died young, some before, some after their father, and were buried in London.¹⁹

Prince says that on the downfall of the Cockington family the younger brothers became soldiers of fortune and died "without issue beyond sea."

And so they scattered:

........................................Some to the wars to try their fortunes there,
........................................Some to discover Islands far away,
........................................Some to the studious Universities.

Here Fairfax Harrison continues with a subsection under the heading: 'THE EMIGRANTS', in which he tells the stories of those younger brothers of Sir Henry's, who "became soldiers of fortune and died 'without issue beyond sea'." But before that he places all of Henry's siblings at home with him in 1646:

«  We can now confirm Prince's general statement as to some of the Cockington household, in connection with the West Indies and America.

In support of the application of Sir Henry Cary of Cockington for composition there was filed²⁰ a deposition by one of his servants that on June 15, 1646, there were living with Sir Henry, at Cockington, his mother and the following named brothers and sisters: Robert, Edward, John, Theodore, George, Walter, James, Francis, Elizabeth, Bridget. The Visitation of Devon of 1620 gives the children living when that record was made as Henry, Robert, Edward, Francisca, Elizabeth, and John, the last named "aet 3 menses."²¹ It follows that all the younger brothers and sisters who were living in 1646, viz., Theodore, George, Walter, James, and Bridget, were born after 1620; and this is confirmed by the entry of the matriculation of the oldest of them, Theodore, at Queen's College, Oxford, in 1642, when he gave his age as eighteen;²² and by the earliest entry of the family in the surviving parish register of Cockington,²³ namely, for 1629, reading: "Bridgett Cary, the daughter of George Cary, Esq., and Eliza, his wife, was bap: the 20 of January." One of them must then have been born every year from 1624 to 1629. It seems clear that the Francis of the deposition of 1646 was intended for the daughter Francisca born 1617, who appears in the Visitation pedigree, and not a son Francis born 1628, as the misprint has heretofore led us to conjecture.²⁴

....  »

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8} Harrison, Fairfax. Devon Carys, Vol. 1 (New York: De Vinne Press, 1920), Chapter XII - pp. 263-277.

   Footnotes (end-notes):
   1. He was buried in Cockington Church, but no M.I. nor any will survives. See, however, the parish register in H. & G., viii, 101.
   2. See post, p.277.
   3. See the Royalist army list in Masson, Life of Milton, ii, 443.
   4. Symond, Diary (Camden Society), 54, and Metcalfe, Book of Knights.
   ... [ cont'd on pp.276-277 ]
   5. Cf. Cal. Committee for Composition, ii, 1140, 1368, 1420.
   6. Markham, The Great Lord Fairfax, 260.
   7. Sprigg, part iii, ch. vii, 181 ; Rushworth, part iv, vol. I, 96.
   8. Sprigg (185) says that in the confusion the Kingswear fort "beat a parley three hours together before they were heard."
   9. See post, p. 277.
   10 See H. & G., viii, 106, quoting Royalist Composition Papers on these transactions, and extracts.
   11. Cal. State Papers, Domestic, 167, 683. In another petition of the same year (Cal. State Papers, Domestic, 1663-64, 240) Sir Henry puts the sum of his disbursements for the king's account at £38,300.
   12. Prince says (Worthies of Devon, 185): "As for the house and manor of Cockington, that became the purchase of Mr. Mallack, a rich merchant of the City of Exon, whose son Rawlins Mallack, Esqr., sometime a justice of peace for this county, and a member of parliament, new builded the house, enclosed the park, wall'd round a warren and large gardens, fitted up the parts and made it as gentile and commodious a dwelling as most in this country." The Mallocks have remained seated at Cockington to
   this day. See Burke, Landed Gentry, 19 14.
   13. Worthies of Devon, 184. Mr. Dymond records (H. & G., viii, 85) the family tradition that Sir Henry went to Virginia, but as no evidence of him has been found in Virginia and it is probable that Colonel Nicholson would have known it and have mentioned him to LeNeve (see post, p. 657) if he had been there, we may conclude that Prince's story is true and that the family tradition is a confusion of Sir Henry with his younger brothers. (See post, p. 277.)
   14. See the M. I. in H. & G., viii, 98. There is a portrait of this lady by Jansen in the family of her first husband, inscribed:
   "Thrice happy Mary
   Wise, Harris, Cary."
   15. Worthies of Devon, 184. The policy of Charles II apparently was to secure the restoration of estates to those who, with unwavering loyalty, had forfeited their property in his father's cause, but to do little for those who, like Sir Henry Cary of Cockington, had accepted composition from the Commonwealth. Airy (Charles II, 1901) cites the extraordinary case of the Penderel family, which still subsists upon pensions Charles II granted them for personal services rendered in aiding his escape after Worcester.
   16. Cal. State Papers, Domestic, 1663-64, 240.
   17. Foster, London Marriages. Sir Henry was in fact fifty at the time of his third marriage. The Visitation of Devon (Vivian, 152), made in his infancy, certifies that he was aet 7, 1620.
   18. Chester, Westminster Burials. The entries spell the name Carew, but there is no doubt of the identification because at the end of his life Sir Henry was living in the parish of St. Giles in the Fields, to which the Westminster register attributes the Sir
   Henry there buried, and in Cal. State Papers, Domestic, clvi. No. 53, and clxxix. No. 123, there are entries of provision made in 1666 for Martha, widow of Sir Henry Cary.
   19. The children of Sir Henry Cary.
   20. Royalist Composition Papers, 1645, calendared in H. & G., viii, 105. (See next reference source #2. Also see reference source #3 below)
   « The children of Sir Henry Cary and Amy Bagge, his first wife, as recorded in the Cockington parish register (Dymond, H. & G., viii, 100) were: (i) GRACE baptized January 17, 1640; (ii) EDWARD, baptized June 9, 1642; (iii) HENRY, baptized September 26, 1643; (iv) RICHARD, baptized April 27, 1646; and (v) HASTINGS, baptized May 16, 1652. It seems probable that Hastings died an infant, his mother having certainly died in childbirth of him; at all events there is no further record of him. Edward was buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbey January 13, 1661, where his father was buried beside him October 4, 1665, and his brother Henry August 16, 1667. The last surviving son, Richard, administered August 1, 1669, on the estate of his mother, "D^na Araia Cary, vid. nup^r de Cockington in Com. Devon, defunct." (P.C.C. Admon. Act Book, 1669. There was a mistake in the description as widow, for the parish register of Cockington, as quoted by Dymond in H. & G., viii, 101, shows her burial June 16, 1652.) He could not have done this if either of his older brothers was then alive. Finally, it being remembered that the only daughter, Grace, had married, February 10, 1663, Robert Busby of St. Bride's, London (Chester, Westminster Marriage Licenses), we find the will of Richard Cary dated February 8, 1671, and proved March 19 following (P.C.C. Duke, 35), whereby he describes himself as "of the parish of St. Brides, London, Esquire," and leaves his entire estate to his "dear sister Grace Busby, wife of Robert Busby of said parish, woolen draper." This was apparently the extinction of Sir Henry Cary's name. »
   21. Vivian, 152.
   22. Foster Alumni Oxon.
   23. H. & G., viii, 100.
   24. The Virginia Carys, 141. Cf. post, p. 697.
   Source:Harrison, Fairfax. Devon Carys
   The full Vol. I may be accessed here: archive.org

2.   Nichols, John Gough, ed.: The Herald and Genealogist, Vol. VIII. London: R.C. Nichols and J. B. Nichols, printers to the Society of Antiquaries, 25, Parliament Street, Westminster. 1874. p.84-85, p.97.

   « BRANCHES OF CARY, OF COCKINGTON, TOR ABBEY, AND FOLLATON, CO. DEVON. (p.81--128)
   ...
   (pp.84-85) ... Sir George Cary was enabled to make large additions to the fair estate derived from his father and his first wife, and, at the time of his death, his rent-roll must have been one of the amplest in Devonshire. ...
   A large portion of these possessions, including the manor and mansion of Cockington, fell to the share of his namesake and adopted heir George, the youngest but one of the sons of his brother John Cary of Dudley, co. Stafford.
   This George Cary married Elizabeth, a daughter of the now ducal House of Seymour. The contents of a deed printed in the Appendix show that, in early life at least, George Cary displayed tendencies to extravagance, which excited his uncle's misgivings. He nevertheless handed down the Cockington estate, at his death in 1643, to his eldest son and heir, the gallant but unfortunate Sir Henry Cary.
   ... »
   Page 97 contains TABLE VII.—Carys of Cockington. This pedigree has the descent from "George Cary, of Cockington==Elizabeth (Seymour)." - in which their eleven children are shown (as in the table, sons are listed first, and numbered here: 1-8, daughters following: 1-3):
   1. "Sir Henry Cary, of Cockington; æt. 7 in 1620; lost Cockington 1651; High Sheriff of Devon 1643."=="Amy, dau. of Sir James Bagge, of Saltram, co. Devon; bur. at Cockington 16 June, 1652."
   2. "Robert, LL.D. born at Cockington; æt. 6 in 1620; Archdeacon of Exeter 1662; Rector of East Portlemouth, Devon; bur. there 19 Sept. 1688."
   3. "Edward, æt. 5 in 1620; living 1653."
   4. "John, aged 3 months in 1620."
   5. "Col. Theodore, died 1683, æt. 63; monument in Spanish Town, Jamaica; mar. Dorothy, dau. of . . . Wale, m. 1676."
   6. "George, a Captain of horse; living 1660."
   7. "Walter"
   8. "James"
   1. "Frances, æt. 3 in 1620; died 1634."
   2. "Elizabeth, æt. 2 in 1620."
   3. "Bridget, bapt. at Cockington 20 Jan. 1629."
   .... »
   Pages 84-85 accessed at: archive.org
   Table VII on p.97 accessed at: archive.org
   The Herald and Genealogist, Vol. VIII. London: R.C. Nichols and J. B. Nichols, printers to the Society of Antiquaries, 25, Parliament Street, Westminster. 1874. Edited by John Gough Nichols, F.S.A. Hon. Member of the Societies of Antiquaries of Scotland and Newcastle-on-Tyne, Corresponding Member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society.

3. ↑ Website: Find My Past > Record Transcription: Devon Baptisms.

   « First name(s) Henry / Last name Cary / Birth year - /
   Baptism year 1613 / Baptism date 27 Feb 1613 / Denomination Anglican /
   Baptism place Berry Pomeroy / Father's first name(s) Georg /
   County Devon / Archive South West Heritage Trust / Archive reference 3046A/PR/1/1
   Record set Devon Baptisms / Category Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records /
   Subcategory Parish Baptisms / Collections from England, Great Britain  »
   Accessed at: findmypast.co.uk, which links to an image from the original parish register:
   « Christnings / ... / February ... 27 | On^e Henry Cary Sonn of M^r Georg Cary Esquire
   ... March ... 1614 | 27 .... »
   [Note: this means that the year of 1613 is from the Old Style (OS) Julian Calendar. In our present day New Style (NS) Gregorian calendar, the year of his baptism would be 1614.]
   Image at: findmypast.co.uk

4. ↑ 'Richard Seymor - Hartford 1640', a paper read before the Connecticut Chapter Daughters of Founders and Patriots of Amercica At Norwalk, Conn., February 13th, 1903 by Mrs. Maria Watson Pinney, Derby, Conn. p. 18.

   « ...
   "Mathew Hatch made declaration that Elizabeth Cary, the relict of George Cary of Cockington, and mother of Henry Cary of Cockington, in Devon, Knight, and sometimes called Elizabeth Seymour, also mother of Robert (of whom Westcote's Devonshire, page 511 states, married Christin, daughter and heir of Wm Strechley, Esq.) also mother of Edward, John, Theodore, George, Walter and James, sons, and Frances, Elizabeth and Bridget, daughters of the above George and Elizabeth, were all living and in good health."
   This is dated June 15th, 1646.
   .... »
   Accessed at: archive.org
   Note: Although the writer of this does not say so, this "Mathew Hatch" must be the servant of Sir Henry Cary, referred to in Devon Carys, Vol. I, p.276. (See reference source #1. above)

5. ↑ Quite possibly born in Berry Pomeroy Castle - the home of his mother's parents.