A native of Bridgnorth,[2] he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford.
Hampton thought very highly of him and recommended him for preferment, despite Synge's incurring the enmity of the formidable William Laud, with whom he clashed on the issue of private confession.
He was appointed Treasurer of Dromore Cathedral in 1834;[4] and Dean in 1635, a post he held until his elevation to the episcopate in 1638.
Tragedy struck the same year when several of his family perished in a shipwreck.
In 1647 he was nominated as Archbishop of Tuam, but due to the state of civil war in Ireland, he was unable to gain possession of the Archdiocese.