Both Aurelian and his sister, Frances, were born before 12 December 1583, at which date they are mentioned in the will of Thomas Townshend of Crimplesham, Norfolk.
He then spent a year in France as Edward Herbert's friend and aide who "spoke French, Italian and Spanish in great perfection".
He was one of the Cavalier poets, and his masque Tempe Restored was performed on Shrove Tuesday of 1632 and had in its cast Queen Henrietta Maria and fourteen court ladies.
Their daughter Diana Kirke married Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford in 1673.
Their son Charles died as an infant, and with the death of the 20th Earl the earldom of Oxford, created in 1142, became extinct.