He had seven brothers, William, Thomas, Edward, Henry, Richard, Anthony and Francis, and three sisters, Jane, Anne and Elizabeth.
Thomas, the second eldest brother was judged "a wandering lunatic" in 1538 but recovered by 1556 and was able to claim all his late father's estates.
He was educated at Winchester College,[4] where he had as a contemporary John Harpsfield, with whom he made a bet that he would write two hundred verses in one night without making more than three faults, which he did.
Anthony Wood claims that his Fellowship was made void in 1541 because of his prolonged absence from the College[7] He had graduated B.C.L (Bachelor of Civil Law).
[8] As a Fellow of New College, Oxford, he came under the charge of Thomas Cromwell's zealous enforcer of monastery closures, Dr John London, Warden since 1528.
New College at the time was a crucible for orthodox and radically Protestant views where Frith's A Disputacyon of Purgatory[9] was widely circulated.
[10] In February 1538 John Husee, Lord Lisle's agent, writing to Lady Lisle, extolled the virtues of Sir Peter Philpot's third son and arrangements were made for him to travel to Calais to join the Lord Deputy of Calais' household.
He certainly visited Rome where he assisted John Christopherson, who, later, as bishop of Chichester, was one of Philpot's interrogators at his trial[12] Between Venice and Padua he fell into an argument with a Franciscan friar , and very narrowly escaped the inquisition in consequence.
On his return to Winchester, according to his own account, he was promised by bishop Stephen Gardiner the post of archdeacon upon the death of the incumbent.
[13] However, wherever he could, he preached his strongly held Protestant views including lectures on the Epistles of Saint Paul to the Romans[14] and by 1548 had become a serious source of irritation to the bishop who wrote to Protector Somerset (Edward Seymour) complaining about Philpot's behaviour, by which Philpot would "infect by contagion" those who talked with him and they would be "entered into madness.".
[17] Later he had a serious disagreement with his Protestant bishop, John Ponet, whom the registrar Cooke, ' a man who hated pure religion' had stirred up against him.
Most of the delegates attending the Convocation were conservative Catholic supporters of Mary Tudor but half a dozen or so adhered to the Protestant beliefs which had been strongly advocated during the previous reign.
They are written in the third person and include extensive dialogue largely between Philpot and a number of senior churchmen.
Amongst other things he strongly defended the views of the current Catechism (now disavowed by his interlocutors), and argued over the Sacrament and the Catholic belief in transubstantiation.
Most of the letters are intended to provide spiritual comfort to persons unknown, three are to John Careless, a fellow prisoner, five are to Lady Elizabeth Fane (or Vane), a liberal supporter of persecuted Protestants and one is to a sister warning her that she is in danger of "drinking from the cup" of the whore of Babylon, by which he means the Catholic Church.
He also asks her to ensure through their brother Thomas that the sureties that stood in for him in 1552 when he entered into an agreement to pay the First Fruits tax would be fully recompensed.
[19] These 'Examinations' during October, November and December were conducted by a wide range of academics and senior clergy, including the archbishop of York, at one session.
He was burned at the stake at Smithfield on 18 December displaying great courage, according to Foxe's Book of Martyrs.