He was the son of Sir John Matthew of Ross in Herefordshire, England, and of his wife Eleanor Crofton of Ludlow.

Matthew was educated at Wells, Somerset, and then in succession at University College and Christ Church, Oxford.

[2] After the Union of the Crowns, in June 1603 James VI and I sent his courtiers Roger Aston and James Hudson to give the Bishop his command to travel north to meet Anne of Denmark, who was bringing Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth to Windsor Castle.

While in the north he was active in forcing the recusants to conform to the Church of England, preaching hundreds of sermons and carrying out thorough visitations.

[2] In 1617, he delegated his trusted lieutenant Phineas Hodson to advise Roger Brearley, who had founded the Grindletonian nonconformist sect and been accused of heresy as a result, on how he might reconcile with the Church of England.