Sir Adolphus Carey (or Cary) is a Member of Parliament for St. Albans and renowned in Berkhamsted as “a most loving benefactor to the poor of this town”. He lives at Berkhamsted Place, a mansion at the top of the Castle Hill in Berkhamsted which he has leased from his brother, Sir Edward Carey, the Keeper of the Crown Jewels to Queen Elizabeth I. Sir Edward built Berkhamsted Place in 1580 from stones plundered from the Berkhamsted Castle ruins.
In 1609, Sir Adolphus dies in London from smallpox and is buried on 10th April at St Peter’s Berkhamsted. In the 1920s, local historian R.A. Norris has Carey’s funerary helmet restored and put on display in St Peter’s, hanging above the tomb of Henry of Berkhamsted. Sadly it is stolen the 1970s and has never been recovered.
