[1] He served as captain of musters by 1560, commissioner of concealed lands and Sheriff of Dorset from 1572 to 1573 and Justice of the Peace from about 1575.

[1] In his later years he investigated taverns and grain supplies at Lyme Regis; entertained the 2nd Earl of Bedford at Bridport; stayed at Marshwood with Sir Amias Paulet, the lord of the manor; investigated horse theft; and, in 1578, investigated at the request of the Privy Council the causes of the dispute between Sir Henry Ashley and Henry Howard, son of Thomas Howard, 1st Viscount Howard of Bindon.

[1] He died 2 September 1581,[3] leaving £1,400 to his children, and appointing Henry Coker overseer.

His eldest son Robert, then aged about 22, was executor and residuary legatee.

He married firstly, Katherine, daughter of Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell and Elizabeth Seymour, by whom he had six children:[1][4][5] He married secondly, on 28 January 1572, Margaret, daughter of Christopher (or Christian) Hadley of Withycombe, Somerset and widow of Thomas Luttrell by whom he had one son and five daughters:[1][8][9]