In his early years he was a supporter of the House of Lancaster, and for service against the Yorkists in Lincolnshire in 1459 was granted £40 yearly from forfeited lands on 21 March 1460. He was in Queen Margaret's army when it advanced on London and won the Second Battle of St Albans on 17 February 1461, and fought at Towton on 29 March 1461; after Towton it was wrongly reported that he had been slain. His father, slain at Towton, was attainted on 21 December 1461 by the victorious Yorkists, whereby all his honours were forfeited, and a result he did not immediately succeed his father in the barony of Welles; however, on 5 February 1462, he was able to obtain a pardon from Edward IV.