He was a member of the Great Tew intellectual circle around Lucius Cary, and a friend and correspondent of Thomas Hobbes.
He was the son of John Aglionby, educated at Westminster School, from which he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1619, aged sixteen.
In this position he was the replacement for Hobbes, who was a close associate of William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire up to his death in 1628.
For some time he was a master of Westminster School, and was tutor to the young George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.
[1] He was deprived of his stall at Westminster; at Canterbury he was never installed, given the wartime conditions, and it is probable that he never visited his cathedral.