Ecton, a native of Winchester, was employed in the first-fruits department of the office of Queen Anne's Bounty, where he ultimately became the receiver of the tenths of the clergy.
He devised all his 'manuscript bookes, papers, and collections' to his wife and Dr. Edward Butler, vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, 'to be jointly att their discretion disposed of in the best manner for the publick service'; but he desired that such as were found completed and likely to prove useful might be published.
Liber Valorum et Decimarum; being an Account of the Valuations and Yearly Tenths of all such Ecclesiastical Benefices in England and Wales as now stand chargeable with the Payment of First-Fruits and Tenths … (Some Things necessary to be … performed by a Clergyman upon his admission to any Benefice), 8vo, London, 1711.
Of this once useful compilation, seven editions appeared between 1723 and 1796, the best being that published as Thesaurus Rerum Ecclesiasticarum, 4to, London, 1754, and again in 1763, with additions by Browne Willis.
In 1786 John Bacon, having changed the title of the book to Liber Regis and made a few additions, published it as entirely his own work, without even revising Ecton's preface.
This conduct, for which Bacon and his publisher, John Nichols, deserved equal blame, was severely commented on in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1786 and 1787 (vol.