John Carey, 3rd Baron Hunsdon


John Carey, 3rd Baron Hunsdon was an English peer, politician and Governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Life

He was a son of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon and Anne Morgan, the younger brother of George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon and a grandson of Mary Boleyn. It is alleged that his father was the illegitimate son of Henry VIII of England born of Mary Boleyn when she was a royal mistress. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was knighted in 1598 and succeeded his brother as third Baron Hunsdon in 1603.
He held a number of court and public offices including Gentleman pensioner from 1573-1603, Chamberlain of Berwick-upon-Tweed in 1585, Deputy Warden of East March, Justice of the Peace for Cambridgeshire in 1594, and Marshal of Berwick-upon-Tweed from 1596–1598 and again in 1603. He was elected MP for Buckingham in 1584, 1589 and 1593.
Carey's letters from Berwick describe the arrest of Jacob Kroger, a goldsmith working for Anne of Denmark and he identifies Anne Murray as the mistress of James VI of Scotland. Carey relayed news of Humphrey Dethick, a former employee of Baptist Hicks who came to Dunfermline Palace and killed a man.
In June 1603, after the Union of the Crowns and hearing rumours that the Berwick garrison would be downsized and Lord Home made governor, Carey wrote to Robert Cecil that someone should have charge of Berwick, "considering how many distressed and discontented hearts and minds there be in it.
John Carey died at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire in 1617. He was succeeded by his son, Henry Carey, 1st Earl of Dover.

Family

He married Mary, the daughter of Leonard Hyde of Hyde Hall and Throcking, Hertfordshire, widow of Richard Peyton of Little Chesterford, Essex. They had three sons and two daughters.