Bilson was knighted on 25 October 1613, soon after his father Bishop Bilson had been appointed an additional judge on the commission on the annulment of the marriage of the Countess of Essex to marry the royal favourite Robert Carr. Bishop Bilson supported Carr and the annulment: his son was therefore known as court as "Sir Nullity Bilson".[1]
Bilson served as a JP in Hampshire 1614–1621, Commissioner of Sewers for Winchester in 1617, Commissioner of Subsidy for Hampshire 1621–22 and 1624, and Commissioner of Assessment for Hampshire in 1641.[1]