sir frederick madden in his "remarks on the monument of sir richard lyster in st. michael's church southampton," describes both the judge's grandfather, thomas, and his father, john, as of wakefield in yorkshire. his mother was a daughter of beaumont of whitley in the same county. he had his legal training in the middle temple, where he arrived at the dignity of reader in lent, 1516, and of double-reader in lent, 1522, and he was appointed treasurer of the society in the following year.