Born in Borley in Essex in 1516, by 1551 Waldegrave had become one of Mary’s chief advisers. In August of that year he, Sir Francis Englefield and Rochester were summoned before the Privy Council, accused of encouraging Mary’s Catholicism and ordered to prevent the celebration of mass in her household. Mary forbade them to carry out this order and sent them back with a letter for Edward VI. When the Council repeated its instructions on 22 Aug. they refused to obey and were committed to the Tower. After two months’ imprisonment Waldegrave, who had contracted a quartan ague, was removed to a house outside the Tower, but he was not liberated until the following March. On 14 Apr. 1552 he and the others were allowed to return to their mistress.
On Mary’s accession Waldegrave was rewarded with a Privy Councillorship and appointed Master of the Great Wardrobe. He also received a number of local offices in Essex and was granted manors in Navestock.
Waldegrave was elected to the Parliament for Wiltshire in October 1553, twice for Somerset in 1554 and lastly for Essex in 1558. He succeeded Rochester as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1554 and was granted the manor of Cobham, Kent.
Upon Elizabeth's accession, his career at court abruptly ended. In April 1561 he and his wife, who had been one of Mary's gentlewomen, were indicted at Brentwood, Essex, on charges of hearing mass and harbouring priests. He died on 1 September 1561 at Tower of London and was buried in St Peter ad Vincula there.
His grandson was Sir Edward Waldegrave, 1st Baronet.
The manor of Navestock was acquired in or before the 11th century by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. It was occupied by Richard Green, who leased it from St. Paul's in 1526 for 40 years at £50. The manor was the property of the King in 1544, and was sold in 1554 to Sir Edward Waldegrave, whose descendants became the Earls Waldegrave.