 Northcote was the eldest surviving son of John Northcote (1570-1632) of Hayne, Newton St Cyres, near Crediton, Devon, (whose splendid monument he erected in Newton St Cyres Church) by his second wife Susanna Pollard, daughter of Sir Hugh II Pollard of King's Nympton.The family of Northcote originated in Devon at the Domesday Book manor of Northcote in the parish of East Down in North Devon.The Heraldic Visitations of Devon lists the founder of the family as "Galfridus de Northcote, Miles" ("knight"), living in 1103.