[2] He was the only son and heir of Sir William Courtenay (c. 1529 – 1557) of Powderham, MP for Plympton Erle in 1555, by Elizabeth, daughter of John Paulet, 2nd Marquess of Winchester.

[5] After his father's death, his mother subsequently married Sir Henry Ughtred, son of Sir Anthony Ughtred and his second wife, Elizabeth Seymour, sister to Jane, third consort of Henry VIII.

[2] He was knighted on 25 March 1576,[7] and in 1577 was commissioned as one of two Colonels of the East Division of the Devon Trained Bands.

[8] He served as Sheriff of Devon for 1579–80 and was also involved in the Munster Plantation in Ireland in the 1580s, being granted Desmond Hall and Castle in Newcastle West.

[2] In 1831 he was recognised by a retrospective decision of the House of Lords as having been de jure 3rd Earl of Devon.