 He began as a Nonconformist minister, but then conformed to the Church of England, attending Clare College, Cambridge.He was appointed in turn to the parishes of Wicken in East Anglia and Wendover in Buckinghamshire.In 1709 Hort went to Ireland to serve as chaplain for Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and obtained a parish there, which he couldn't take up for several years pending litigation.