Born in London in 1545, when he was ordained by Edmund Grindal in 1566 at the age of 21, he was called a bachelor of arts of Christ Church, Oxford.
He was insistent on changing the Act of Uniformity to purge what he regarded as Roman Catholic tendencies in British practice.
[4][5] In mid-June 1572, both Wilcox and Field were arrested, and in October sentenced to a year's imprisonment for the publication and breaking the Act of Uniformity.
[6] During Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift's increasing push for conformity, Field proposed to organise the Puritans in England into a hierarchy of Presbyterian synods, a decrease in formalism and gesture in public prayer, and a greater emphasis on preaching.
In 1585, he again drew legal sanction and was barred from preaching, but this punishment was less than that which had been sought, as Field had friends on the Queen's Council surrounding Elizabeth.