The first notice of this career comes in 1392, when he was vicar of Markinch in Fife,[1] a vicariate of St Andrews Cathedral Priory.

[6] Lichton enjoyed an amicable relationship with the most powerful magnate in the area, Alexander Stewart, Lord of Badenoch and Earl of Mar, as Lichton appears to have suffered no harassment, attended the latter's marriage to Isabella, Countess of Mar back in 1404 and procured for him an annulment of that marriage when Stewart chose to remarry in 1415.

[7] After the death of Gilbert de Greenlaw, Bishop of Aberdeen, in 1421, Lichton was chosen as his successor, and was translated to the diocese of Aberdeen in early April 1422, on the authority of Pope Martin V.[8] Pope Martin delegated authority to Robert de Cardeny, Bishop of Dunkeld, and William Stephen, Bishop of Dunblane, in order to take Lichton's oath to the Papal see without forcing him to travel to Rome.

[12] Licthon also constructed a new chapel dedicated to St John the Evangelist, and donated much of his own money to new service books and vestments, as well as to the reconstruction of the cathedral.

[9] In 1428, Henry was the leader of an embassy sent to King Charles VII of France for a marriage proposal and to renew the Franco-Scottish alliance,[14] and in January 1430, was sent into England for discussion of various grievances.