 Born before 1430, he was probably the son of Robert Brandon, collector of customs at King’s Lynn and Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, who served as a Member of Parliament for Bishop's Lynn in 1421.He became a retainer of the local magnates, the Dukes of Norfolk, rising to be a senior member of the council of John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk by 1476.In 1454-55 he acted as escheator for Norfolk and Suffolk, and in 1468 sat as a Member of Parliament for New Shoreham.