Philip Twisleton was the son of John Twislkton, of Drax and Barley, Yorkshire, and of Horsmans Place in Dartford, and Margaret, daughter of William Constable.
Twisleton was a colonel of a horse (cavalry) regiment in the New Model Army, and was knighted by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell on 1 February 1658 (the knighthood passed into oblivion at the Restoration in May 1660).