 Burby ("sometimes confused with Cuthbert Burbage," though there is no known connection between the two men) was the son of Edmund Burby, a farmer in Erlsey, Bedfordshire.Cuthbert Burby was apprenticed to the stationer William Wright for eight years as of Christmas 1584, and became a "freeman" (full member) of the Stationers Company on 13 January 1592.He did business in London between 1592 and 1607.