Margaret Spencer

For other people named Margaret Spencer, see Margaret Spencer (disambiguation).

Margaret (or Eleanor) Spencer (1472 – 1536) was the daughter of Sir Robert Spencer, of Spencercombe, in the English County of Devon, by his wife Lady Eleanor Beaufort, the daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lady Eleanor Beauchamp.

In 1490, she was married to Sir Thomas Carey, of Chilton Foliat, in Wiltshire, son of Sir William Carey and Alice Furford. They had eight children:

• Sir John Carey, of Plashey (1491–1552), married Joyce Denny (1495–1559). She was the daughter of Sir Edmund Denny, of Cheshunt and Lady Mary Coke.
• Anne Carey (1493–1550)
• William Carey (1500–1528), Gentleman of the Privy Chamber and Esquire of the Body to King Henry VIII of England, married Mary Boleyn. It is thought that shortly after the marriage, Henry VIII began an affair with Mary, and around this time she gave birth to two children whose parentage is questioned by historians, Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon and Catherine Carey. If they were Margaret's biological grandchildren, then her descendants include Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth II and Diana, Princess of Wales.
• Margaret Carey (1496–1560)
• Eleanor Carey (died after 1528). She was a nun at Wilton Abbey.
• Daughter Carey. She was a nun at Wilton Abbey.
• Edward Carey (1498–1560)
• Mary Carey (1501–1560), married John Delaval, Sheriff of Northumberland (1493–1562).

References

• The royal descent of Nelson and Wellington, from Edward the first, George Russell French, 1853, page 28
• The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII, Retha Marvine Warnicke, 1984, page 36
• The Baronetage of England: containing a genealogical and historical account of all the English, Edward Kimber, 1771, Page 221