Throckmorton was one of the younger sons of Sir George Throckmorton of Coughton and his wife Katherine Vaux, the eldest daughter of Nicholas Vaux of Harrowden by his first wife Elizabeth FitzHugh.
[5] Through her second husband Katherine held the manor of Chastleton, Oxfordshire for life and this became their main residence outside London.
[6][1] In 1563 he sat as MP for Cricklade, a borough where his relation by marriage Edmund Brydges, 2nd Baron Chandos dominated elections.
He also suffered periodic bouts of imprisonment in the last 15 years of his life, in part perhaps due to his relationship to his nephew, the conspirator Francis Throckmorton.
Despite the harsh financial penalties imposed on recusants, he remained a wealthy man.