His father had five sons, all clergymen, among them John White (1570?–1615), chaplain to James I. Francis, after passing through the grammar school at St Neots, Huntingdonshire, was admitted pensioner at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, on 20 March 1579, aged 15.

Early in 1622 he was employed by James I as a disputant against John Percy alias Fisher (1569–1641), to stay the Roman Catholic tendencies of Mary, Countess of Buckingham.

He took part, in conjunction with Daniel Featley, in another discussion with Fisher, opened on 27 June 1623, at the house of Humphrey Lynde, in Sheer Lane, London.

Sir Walter Earle referred to the matter in parliament (11 February 1628), quoting the line 'Qui color albus erat, nunc est contrarius albo'.

White treated the question doctrinally; its historical aspect was assigned to Peter Heylyn.

Among many, White ordained Ralph Wheelock, Clare College graduate, and first schoolmaster of America's first free school in Dedham, Massachusetts, on 6 May 1630.