He matriculated at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, on 22 April 1687, at the age of fifteen.
He settled in Dorset on his marriage, in 1700, with Mary, only daughter and heiress of John Ryves of Fifehide Nevill in that county.
Having in the meanwhile attained to a fair practice at the bar, Salkeld was in 1713 appointed Chief Justice of the Great Sessions for the counties of Carmarthen, Cardigan, and Pembroke.
On 24 Jan. 1715 he became Serjeant-at-Law, and, in spite of the change of dynasty, he presided over the Carmarthen circuit until his death on 14 Sept. following.
With others he translated into English the Reports of Sir Creswell Levinz in the King's Bench, 1660–1697, which appeared in 1722.