When William's father died in 1586 the family were among the biggest landowners in Dublin, although their wealth and influence notably declined in the next generation.
[2]: 16 Upon on his father's death, William inherited the family estates, but on entering the priesthood he passed them to John, the next brother in age, in 1601.
[3] The Queen made him a number of grants of land, thus adding further to the extensive Bathe holdings: but royal favour ceased after 1598, when Elizabeth discovered that William had been ordained a priest.
Apart from the religious issue, the close friendship between Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Sir William Warren, who married William's widowed stepmother Jenet Finglas, raised serious questions about the family's loyalty to the English Crown during O'Neill's rebellion, popularly known as the Nine Years War.
He should not be confused with his cousin Sir William Bathe of Athcarne Castle (died 1597), who was a judge of the Irish Court of Common Pleas.