He spent part of his early life in France, passing himself off as a priest and teaching at the college of St. Maixant in Poitou.

[3] In another letter to Newton he wrote that if a certain man failed to gain a place in Prince Henry's household, he should be sent to "Tom Dyrry or to me".

In 1620 he was made a baronet, first selling the deanery of Durham to Dr. Richard Hunt, and presumably paying for his new honour with the proceeds.

His executors David Cunningham of Auchenharvie and Peter Newton were instructed to use a legacy to rebuild the nearby St Luke's Church, Charlton.

of Paolo Sarpi's History of the Council of Trent, which had been published in 1620 in London in an English version made from the Italian original by Sir Nathaniel Brent.

King James gave them a gift of silver gilt plate supplied by the London goldsmith John Williams.