Henry Cary, 1st Viscount Falkland,
KB,
PC (c. 1575 – September 1633) was an
English landowner and politician who sat in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
from 1601 to 1622. He was created
Viscount Falkland
Viscount Falkland is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The name refers to the royal burgh of Falkland in Fife.
History
The title was created in 1620 by King James VI for Sir Henry Cary, a member of the Cary family. He was born in Her ...
in the Scottish peerage in 1620. He was
Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1622 until 1629.
Early life
Cary was the son of Sir
Edward Cary, of
Berkhamsted
Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the River Bulbourne, Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which ...
and
Aldenham, Hertfordshire,
Master and Treasurer of His Majesty's Jewels, and his wife Katherine Knyvett or Knevet, daughter of
Sir Henry Knyvett or Knevet,
Master of the Jewel Office to
Queen Elizabeth and
King James, and wife Anne Pickering, and widow of
Henry Paget, 2nd Baron Paget. His father was the son of
Sir John Cary (d. 9 September 1552) and wife
Joyce Denny (d. from 10 November 1560 to 30 January 1561) and nephew of Sir
William Carey.
He entered
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...
in 1590 and entered
Exeter College, Oxford in 1593 at the age of sixteen. According to Wood, by the aid of a good tutor Cary became highly accomplished. Subsequently, he served in France and the Low Countries, and was taken prisoner by Don
Luis de Velasco, probably at the
Siege of Ostend
The siege of Ostend was a three-year siege of the city of Ostend during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War (1585), Anglo–Spanish War. A Spanish Empire, Spanish force under Archduke Albert (1559–1621), Archduke Albrecht besieg ...
(a fact referred to in the epigram on Sir Henry Cary by
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...
).
Court of Elizabeth I and James I
On his return to England Cary was introduced to court, and became
Gentleman of the Bedchamber
Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the Royal Household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Households of the United Kingdo ...
. He was
knighted at
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
in 1599.
[Editors, Vicary Gibbs and H.A. Doubleday.] In 1601 he was elected
Member of Parliament for
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
. He was a
JP for Hertfordshire in 1601. He became joint master of the jewels with his father on 21 June 1603. In 1604 he was re-elected MP for Hertfordshire.
Henry Cary danced in ''
Hymenaei'', the masque at the wedding of
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex and
Frances Howard on 5 January 1606. During the
progress of Anne of Denmark in April 1613, Cary performed in the masque at
Caversham Park.
At the investiture of
Charles
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...
in 1616 he was created a
Knight of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...
In 1617 he became
Comptroller of the Household and a
Privy Councillor. He succeeded to the family estates on the death of his father in 1618. He was created
Viscount Falkland
Viscount Falkland is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. The name refers to the royal burgh of Falkland in Fife.
History
The title was created in 1620 by King James VI for Sir Henry Cary, a member of the Cary family. He was born in Her ...
in the county of Fife, in the
Scottish peerage
The Peerage of Scotland (; ) is one of the five divisions of peerages in the United Kingdom and for those peers created by the King of Scots before 1707. Following that year's Treaty of Union 1707, Treaty of Union, the Kingdom of Scots and the ...
on 10 November 1620 (the title, with his naturalisation, was confirmed by Charles I by diploma in 1627). In 1621 he was re-elected MP for Hertfordshire; his Scots peerage not barring him from sitting in the English Commons, as an English peerage would.
[Footnote refers. The work dates the start of this, his last session in the Commons, as 1620.]
Chiefly through the favour of
George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham Cary was appointed to succeed Sir
Oliver St John, as
Lord Deputy of Ireland. His patent was sealed in March 1622 and he was sworn on 18 September 1622. In office he showed himself both bigoted in his opinions and timid in carrying out a policy which continually dallied with extremes. Although he was conscientious, he was easily offended, and he failed to conduct himself with credit when confronted with any unusual difficulties.
Falkland was greatly distressed at the number of priests in Ireland and their influence over the people. He was influenced by a sermon of
James Ussher on the text "He beareth not the sword in vain", and issued a proclamation on 21 January 1623, ordering their banishment from the country. This proclamation was highly inappropriate at the time because of the (ultimately unsuccessful) negotiations for the Spanish marriage of the Prince of Wales. In February 1624 he received an order from the English privy council to refrain from more extreme measures than preventing the erection of religious houses and the congregation of unlawful assemblies.
Service under Charles I
Falkland convened an assembly of the nobility of Ireland on 22 September 1626, on account of the difficulties of maintaining the English army in Ireland. He laid before the assembly a draft of concessions promised by Charles, which were subsequently known as the "
Graces". They promised the removal of certain religious disabilities and the recognition of sixty years' possession as a bar to all claims of the crown based on irregularities of title. Falkland did not conduct the negotiations with skill, and for a long time there seemed no hope of a satisfactory settlement. Finally in May 1628, a deputation from the nobility agreed, before the king and privy council at Whitehall, on certain additional concessions in the "Graces" and then confirmed, that Ireland should provide a sum of £4,000 for the army for three years.
Falkland believed that his difficulties with the nobility had been largely due to the intrigues of the
Lord Chancellor of Ireland,
Adam, Viscount Loftus, After the dissolution of the assembly of the nobility in 1627, he brought a charge against Loftus of malversation, and of giving encouragement to the nobility to refuse supplies. After the case had been heard in London, Lord Loftus was allowed to return to his duties pending further inquiry.
Falkland had for some years been engaged in tracking out what he supposed was a dangerous conspiracy of the Byrnes of Wicklow, and in August 1628 was able to announce to Charles I that the result of his protracted investigations had been successful, a true bill having been found against them at the Wicklow assizes. The aim of Falkland was to set up a plantation in Wicklow on the confiscated estates of the Byrnes, but as his designs were disapproved of by the commissioners of Irish causes, the king appointed a committee of the Irish privy council to investigate the matter more fully. Falkland took deep offence because one of the members of committee was the lord chancellor, Loftus and he refused to afford any assistance in the investigation on account of the "high indignity" offered to himself. When, as the result of the inquiry, it was discovered that the Byrnes had been the victims of false witnesses, Falkland was, on 10 August 1629, directed to hand over his authority to the lords justices on the pretext that his services were required in England. Charles I, recognising his good intentions, continued him in favour.
Cary broke his leg, which then had to be amputated, in
Theobalds Park and as a result, he died in September 1633. He was buried on 25 September 1633 at
Aldenham.
Patron of the arts
Falkland continued throughout his life to cultivate his literary tastes. An epitaph by him on Elizabeth, countess of Huntingdon, is given in Wilford's 'Memorials.' Among his papers was found 'The History of the most unfortunate Prince, King Edward II, with choice political observations on him and his unhappy favourites, Gaveston and Spencer,’ which was published with a preface attributed to Sir James Harrington in 1680. Falkland was in the habit of ingeniously concealing the year of his age in a knot flourished beneath his name, a device by which he is said to have detected a forger who had failed to recognise its significance.
Family
Cary married, in 1602,
Elizabeth Tanfield (1585–1639), daughter and heiress of Sir
Lawrence Tanfield, lord chief baron of the exchequer, and his first wife, Elizabeth Symonds.
Elizabeth Tanfield was 16 or 17 years old at the time of the marriage and had a high reputation for her learning. In very early years she showed a strong inclination for the study of languages, mastering French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Hebrew, and Transylvanian. She converted to
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
when she was about nineteen years of age. However, she reportedly did not publicly acknowledge this until twenty years later.
Elizabeth accompanied her husband to Dublin, where she took a great interest in the establishment of industrial schools. When Cary learned of her change of faith they quarrelled, and she left Dublin in 1625. The
Privy Council allowed her a separate maintenance of £500 a year. After her husband's return to England they became reconciled, but continued to live separately. On account of her change of faith, her father probably passed her over in his will (for the circumstances see under
Lucius Cary). When her husband died she had only the annuity of £200 a year from her parents. She died in October 1639, aged 53 or 54.
One of the most intimate friends of Lady Falkland was
William Chillingworth, but after his conversion to Protestantism she blamed him for endeavouring to pervert her children. She published a translation of French Cardinal
Jacques Davy Duperron
Jacques Davy Duperron (; 15 November 1556 – 6 December 1618) was a French politician and Roman Catholic cardinal.
Family and Education
Jacques Davy du Perron was born in Saint-Lô in Normandy, into the Davy family, which belonged to the Norman ...
's reply to the attack on his works by
King James, but the book was ordered burned. Afterwards she translated the whole of Perron's works for the benefit of scholars at Oxford and Cambridge, which was never printed. She also wrote in verse the lives of St Mary Magdalene, St Agnes the Martyr, and St Elizabeth of Portugal, as well as numerous hymns in honour of the Virgin Mary. The collected edition of the works of
John Marston (1633) was dedicated to her.
Of the 11 children of Lord and Lady Falkland there are records of ten -- four sons and six daughters:
*
Lucius, became 2nd Viscount Falkland but during his father's life was confined in the Fleet prison, his father's petition to the king praying for the release of his son, is preserved in the Harleian MS. 1581, where there are also four letters to Falkland from the Duke of Buckingham, has been printed in the ''Cabala''.
*Lawrence (Lorenzo), was knighted and was killed fighting under Sir Charles Coote (the elder) at Battle of Swords in 1642.
*
Patrick, was the author of some poems
* Catherine (d. 1625) married
James Home, 2nd Earl of Home
* Placid (Henry), took Holy Orders in the Catholic Church
* Four daughters --
Anne
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), Annie a ...
, who had been maid of honour to the queen,
Lucy
Lucy is an English language, English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings ar ...
, Elizabeth, and Mary -- became nuns in the Convent of
Cambrai
Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river.
A sub-pref ...
. Their religious names were, respectively, Magdelena, Mary, Augustina and Clementia.
[ Heather Wolfe, 'Cary, Anne (bap. 1614, d. 1671)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, May 201]
accessed 7 April 2017
/ref>
* A fifth daughter, Victoria Cary, was a maid of honour
A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts.
Tudors and Stuarts
Traditi ...
at court and performed the masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A mas ...
'' The Shepherd's Paradise''.[Sarah Poynting, 'Henrietta Maria's Notorious Whores', Clare McManus, ''Women and Culture at the Courts of the Stuart Queens'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), p. 169.] She married Sir William Uvedale MP (1581–1652). One of their daughters, Elizabeth, married Edward Howard, 2nd Earl of Carlisle
Edward Howard, 2nd Earl of Carlisle (27 November 1646 – 23 April 1692), known as Viscount Morpeth from 1661 to 1685, was an English Whig politician.
Biography
Carlisle was the eldest son of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, and his wife ...
See also
*British colonization of the Americas
The British colonization of the Americas is the history of establishment of control, settlement, and colonization of the continents of the Americas by Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and, after 1707, Kingdom of Grea ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
Attribution
* Endnotes:
**Wood's ''Athenæ'' (Bliss), ii. 565–6;
**Fuller's ''Worthies'' (ed. 1811), pp. 431–2;
**Lloyd's ''State Worthies'';
** Sir Robert Douglas's ''Peerage of Scotland'' ( John Philip Wood), i. 567–8;
**''Biog. Brit.'' (Kippis), iii. 290;
**Chalmers's ''Biographical Dictionary'' viii. 335–6;
**Walpole's ''Royal and Noble Authors'', v. 65–6;
**''The Lady Falkland, her Life'', from a Manuscript in the Imperial Archives at Lille;
**''Life'', by Lady Georgiana Fullerton, 1873;
**''Cal. State Papers'', Dom. Series, containing many letters both of Lord and Lady Falkland;
**''Cal. Irish State Papers'', 1615–25;
**''Cal. Carew'' MSS.;
**Harleian MSS. 1581, 2305;
**Add. MS. 3827;
**Gilbert's ''History of the Irish Confederation'', I. xi, 24, 170–6, 210–17;
**Gardiner's ''History of England'', viii. 9–28.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falkland, Henry Carey, 1st Viscount
1570s births
1633 deaths
People from Aldenham
Peers of Scotland created by James VI
Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford
16th-century English nobility
17th-century Scottish peers
Carey, Henry
Henry
Henry
Knyvet family
Carey, Henry
Knights of the Bath
Carey, Henry
Carey, Henry
Masters of the Jewel Office
Lords Lieutenant of Ireland
Viscounts Falkland
Knights Bachelor
Members of the Privy Council of England
English justices of the peace