 Vassal was the second son of John Vassall and his second wife, Anna Russell, and was baptised at Stepney on 5 June 1586.His father was a Huguenot refugee sent to England from Rinant in Normandy before August 1572 and who fitted out two ships, "The Samuel" and the "Little Toby" which he commanded against the Spanish Armada.Vassal lived for a time at Cockethurst Farmhouse, in what was then, Prittlewell, Essex, at the start of the 1600s.