Born at Gillingham in Kent, England.
Around this time he was apprenticed at a shipyard near London, learning shipbuilding and navigation.
When England fought the Spanish Armada, he took part as master of a supply ship.
He joined a Dutch fleet as pilot and sailed for Asia. The voyage was harrowing, and many crewmen lost their lives.
The Liefde drifted ashore in Bungo (Ōita). In Osaka he met Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose interest he won by answering questions about the nations of Europe.
Around this time, on Ieyasu's orders, he built Western-style sailing ships at Itō in Izu (date debated).
Around this time he became a direct retainer and diplomatic adviser to Ieyasu, granted land at Miura in Sagami. Taking the name Miura Anjin (anjin means "pilot"), he married a Japanese woman.
He helped the Dutch open their trading post at Hirado.
An English ship arrived at Hirado and a trading post opened, which he assisted. He could have gone home but chose to stay in Japan.
After Ieyasu died and the shogunate tightened restrictions on foreign trade, Anjin's position weakened.
He died of illness at Hirado. The site of his Edo residence came to be called Anjin-chō.
Maeda ToshinagaHosokawa GraciaKatō YoshiakiHosokawa TadaokiIkeda TerumasaŌtani YoshitsuguDate MasamuneSanada Yukimura (Nobushige)
People of the Sengoku/Azuchi-Momoyama period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.