He was a friend of the queen's lady in waiting Cecily Bulstrode and when she died in August 1609 he asked Ben Jonson to write an epitaph.
In January 1618 he acted with other courtiers at Theobalds led by Sir John Finet in an interlude featuring "Tom of Bedlam the Tinker" intended to amuse King James who was suffering from gout.
The King was displeased by the play, especially the lyrics sung by Finet, and John Chamberlain was surprised that "none had the judgement to see how unfit it was to bring such beastly gear in public before a prince.
"[3] In 1621 he was elected Member of Parliament for Wigan in a by-election after the death of his uncle, Sir Thomas Gerard, 1st Baronet.
He married Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas Swallow of Saffron Walden, Essex, with whom he had one son, George.