[1] He was son of a tallow-chandler, though his grandfather had been a courtier and official under Henry VIII, until he was deprived for non-compliance with the Six Articles.

[2] He preached before Queen Elizabeth, and became vicar of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire (1590) and rector of Toddington, Bedfordshire (1598).

[1] He was appointed Master of the Savoy in 1602, and in July 1603 Clerk of the Closet,[3] a position he would hold until 1632.

[2] He held successively the bishoprics of Rochester (1608), Lichfield and Coventry (1610), Lincoln (1614), Durham (1617), and Winchester (1628), and the archbishopric of York (1631).

[5] His brother, another William Neile (1560–1624), was a book-collector who left 880 books to his children at his death.