He was born in 1717 and received his education at Catharine Hall, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1736 and M.A. in 1740, by the latter date having become a member of King's College, Cambridge.
In London on 9 July 1743 he married Anna Reeve,[REF] daughter of the steward of the Burton Lazars estate, John Reeve of Melton Mowbray, and his wife Joanna Hawley.