He was privately educated by a clergyman, William Rawlins, at the family estate of Coleshill, Warwickshire,[1] before matriculating on 1 July 1674 at Magdalen College, Oxford.
He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1676, and succeeded his elder brother, Robert, as Baron Digby in December 1677.
A devout and scrupulous man (he rarely gambled, and donated any winnings to the poor), he took particular pains in exercising the advowson of Coleshill.
He ultimately appointed John Kettlewell, then known as the author of The Measures of Christian Obedience, to the vicariate there in December 1682.
[1] At the 1685 election, he was returned as Member of Parliament for Warwick, presumably, like his elder brother, with the support of Lord Brooke.