As early as the beginning of King John's reign he was connected with the exchequer, and as late as 1220 he was a justice itinerant in the county of Hereford.
Between 1200 and 1216 the churches of Tenham and Pageham were granted him, and in the latter year, 25 March, he is found dean of St. Martin's-le-Grand, preferment which he obtained from the crown.
In this year also his manor of Tacheworth in Herefordshire was forfeited and granted to Nicholas de Jelland.
Shortly before there had also been a dispute as to a vicarage in Colchester archdeaconry, that of Wytham, between Bocland and the canons of St. Martin's.
About the middle of the fourteenth century Maud, widow of William de Bocland, confirmed to the monastery of Walden the grant of the advowson of Essenham vicarage in the archdeaconry of Colchester.