Waad has no more title to the name than his companions on the Minion, and infinitely less than the sixteen Englishmen who accompanied Sebastian Cabot, not to mention the possibility that were English sailors among Columbus's crews.
He was promoted third clerk of the privy council in London at midsummer 1547, serving at first without a regular salary, though he was paid for special services, like arresting a Frenchman (probably Jean Ribauld) when he tried to escape to France.
[7] On 22 September 1547 he was elected member of parliament for Chipping Wycombe, and on 17 April 1548 began to draw a regular salary of fifty marks as third clerk of the council.
In July 1550 he was employed as the channel of communication with the French and Spanish ambassadors, on 20 December 1551 he was ordered to make an inventory of Cuthbert Tunstall's goods, in April 1552 he brought certain accusations against the Countess of Sussex and was himself instructed to examine her in the Tower, and on 31 May following he was commissioned to procure Paget's signature to the articles against him.
He also acquired lands in Kentish Town and at Lydd, Kent, and subsequently leased Belsize Park, Hampstead, which he made his home, from the dean and chapter of St. Paul's.
[10][11][12] In June 1562 he was sent to Rye to muster six hundred men for service at Havre, and to collect information about the movements of French parties and the readiness of the Huguenots to accept English help.
In 1566 he was engaged in examining at the Tower Cornelius de Alneto or Lannoy, an alchemist who had failed to redeem his promise of manufacturing gold for the queen's service.
[13][14] Waad died at Belsize on 20 June 1568, and was buried in Hampstead church, where an alabaster monument, with a long inscription was erected to his memory by his son William.