[2] Nicholas owed his early advancement to Ormond's influence: in recognition of James's loyalty, the earl left £10 for the boy's education at the Inns of Court.
White entered Lincoln's Inn in 1552, and he was called to the Bar in 1558;[3] during the course of his studies he was a tutor to the children of Sir William Cecil, later Lord Burghley.
[6] White noted her "pretty Scottish speech" and recorded the motto embroidered on her cloth of estate, "En ma fin est mon commencement", My End is in My Beginning.
[8] On 4 November 1568 Elizabeth, who in the early stages of his career thought well of him, appointed him seneschal of Wexford and constable of Leighlin and Ferns, replacing the disgraced adventurer Thomas Stukley.
[11] Despite these marks of royal favour, White was viewed by fellow privy councillors in Ireland as suspiciously partisan and often took independent positions in opposition to the dominant English-born faction on the council.
[14] However, he continued to demonstrate his valuable insights to Burghley in regular correspondence throughout the period, including letters sent in December 1581 on the miseries of war, the need for temperate government, and his fear that the wild Irish were glad to see the weakness of English blood in Ireland.
By the end of Perrot's regime, White was viewed as a minion of the Lord Deputy who was primarily responsible for a policy of favouritism toward Irish-born servitors.
[18] White was implicated in the allegations of treason made against Perrot by a former priest, Dennis O'Roghan, in 1589; despite his ill health, he was arrested in June 1590, and sent to England two months later.
White also had two daughters, one of whom married Robert Browne of Mulcranan, County Wexford, who was murdered by Fiach MacHugh O'Byrne in 1572: the other, Mary, was the second wife of Nicholas St Lawrence, 9th Baron Howth, by whom she had six children.