In local administration, by 1505 he obtained a post under the Duchy of Lancaster as steward of Bradford, adding the stewardship of Blackburn in 1511, of Rochdale in 1527, of Wakefield by 1530, and of Barnoldswick by 1537.
[2] In royal service, he was an esquire of the body to King Henry VII and as such was in attendance at his funeral in Westminster Abbey in 1509.
[2] Despite the influential positions he held in the North of England, at Westminster and at the King's court, his behaviour was not at all exemplary.
One particular long-running feud with Sir Henry Savile of Thornhill led to a request that both be removed from the magistracy.
His downfall came with the rising of 1536, when in October he joined the rebels at Pontefract and was then named as a captain in their forces assembled at York.