[2] His younger son Rowland was a writer on political issues who had considerable influence in his own time.
He is said to have come from a long-established landowning family, with connections to Dufferin in County Down, though little is known of his parents or his early life.
[1] He held office at the pleasure of the monarch, and his patent was renewed at regular intervals.
John Rawson, the last Prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham, and later Viscount Clontarf, was one of the handful of men who dominated the Privy Council: White is known to have been close to him, and married his younger son Rowland to Rawson's natural daughter Catherine,[6] a marriage which is said to have greatly increased the White family fortunes.
[1] His son Rowland was a Protestant convert, and a sincere if unorthodox religious reformer, who was regarded with suspicion by the Catholic Queen Mary I. Patrick on the other hand seems to have adhered to the Roman Catholic faith, even in his last years when the Protestant Elizabeth I was on the throne.