A Royalist on the outbreak of the first Civil War, in 1643 he was High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire and magistrate for the county, and governor of Caernarvon Castle from 1643 to 1646. He sought immunity from delinquency proceedings by Parliament by claiming to have been party to the surrender of Beaumaris Castle to Roundhead forces. During the Second Civil War, he was detained by Parliament while he was sued by four merchants for goods seized for the Royalist war effort to damages of £1,730. He was last recorded an apparent debt prisoner at the Marshalsea in 1653, when he petitioned for relief but he apparently died without the case being resolved.