He matriculated from Oriel College, Oxford, on 29 October 1672, and entered the Middle Temple the following year.
In 1692 he stood for election to Parliament at Tewkesbury in a by-election to replace Lord Capell, but was defeated by Sir Francis Winnington.
[1] In July 1699 he was appointed a judge of the King's Bench in Ireland, but the following year he was transferred to England on 14 November as a baron of the Exchequer.
He was appointed a commissioner of the Great Seal while the lord-chancellor's office was vacant from 24 September to 19 October 1710, and from 15 April to 12 May 1718.
He was one of the judges who gave an opinion on Henry Sacheverell's trial and he took part in trying the Jacobites at Carlisle in 1716.