A claimed connection with the family of Farleigh, according to William Hardy writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, has not been ascertained.
He was admitted at Lincoln's Inn on 7 August 1677,[1] graduated Master of Arts (MA) at Cambridge per literas regias in 1683[2] and was called to the bar in 1687.
On 23 March 1694 he received from the promoters of the bill a sum of twenty guineas "for his pains and services" in that capacity.
This was discovered and his explanation was naïve and unconvincing and he was voted guilty of a ‘high crime and misdemeanour’ and expelled from the House of Commons on 26 March 1695.
[6] He defended three persons, Francis Francia (22 January 1717), John Matthews (1719), and Christopher Sayer (1722), who were charged with treasonable relations with the Old Pretender.
By his will, dated 24 May 1729, and proved by his widow Mary 13 June following, he left bequests to King's College, Cambridge, and to many relatives.