Carey, John, 2nd Earl of Dover (1608 -1677)

John Carey, son of Henry Carey, 1st Earl of Dover and Judith Pelham, daughter of Sir Thomas Pelham, 1st Baronet, was a descendant of the Boleyn family through Mary Boleyn. He studied at St John’s College Cambridge to which he later bequeathed books to the value of £100. His arms are inscribed in the west window of the Upper Library. This gift comprised ninety or so books, consisting of classical authors, Church Fathers and scholastic theology, as well as a number of early editions of polyglot, Arabic, Syriac and Hebrew texts. He married, firstly, Lady Dorothy St. John, daughter of Oliver St. John, 1st Earl of Bolingbroke and Elizabeth Paulet, on 9 May 1628. He married, secondly, Abigail Cokayne, daughter of Sir William Cokayne and Mary Morris, on 2 December 1630.
He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Bath (K.B.) on 1 February 1626, and succeeded to the title of 2nd Viscount Rochford in 1628. He succeeded to the title of 5th Baron Hunsdon of Hunsdon, co. Hertford on 3 November 1640. He gained the rank of Colonel in 1642 in the service of a regiment of Foot, but in 1644 was accused of high treason for adhering to the Royalist cause. In April 1666 he became 2nd Earl of Dover, co. Kent. On his death, the Earldom of Dover and Viscountcy of Rochford became extinct. He was succeeded as Baron Hunsdon by his distant cousin, Robert. He was buried on 1 June 1677 at Westminster Abbey. He died intestate and his estate was administered on 9 June 1681, to a creditor.