ABSTRACT
saüed to Newfoundland in 1536, became Clerk to the council in Calais in 1540, M.P. in 1547 and chief clerk of the Privy Council in 1552-3. He was employed on a diplomatic mission to Holstein in 1559. His son (2) Sir William (1546-1623) was one of Burghley's continental agents from 1576 to 1581. In 1583 he went on an abortive diplomatic mission to Spain. From 1583 to 1613 he was a clerk of the Privy Council and employed, largely as a detective, examining Mary Q. of Scots papers in 1586 and of other R. Catholic conspirators including the Gun Powder Plotters of 1605 and Raleigh. In his later years he was a subscriber to the Virginia Co. and by 1613 fell foul of Robert Carr and the Countess of Essex.
