In July 1646, Christopher was apprenticed for eight years by his widowed mother to Robert Molesworth, a draper of London. At some stage he transferred his apprenticeship to his second master Roger Lambert and was with him when he attained his freedman status as a citizen of London on 15 March 1653.
He married Frances O'Moore (died 1715) daughter of Pierce O'Moore and a relation of Rory O'Moore of Queens County at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Dublin on 7 May 1657, the church having an association with the Guild of Tailors. He lived first at Wood Quay before moving to Blind Quay (now Lower Exchange Street) from around 1660.
He was chiefly a linen merchant and manufacturer who gained experience trading in modern-day Turkey and later moved to Ireland in the mid to late 1650s. He is recorded as being a freeman of the city of Dublin in 1655. He is later recorded as paying quarterage by the drapers in Dublin in 1663 meaning he had not been admitted to one of the Guilds of the City of Dublin. He was elected Sheriff of Dublin City in 1665.
He was elected alderman and Lord Mayor of Dublin in the same year 1676 when he is also recorded as leasing a linen factory near Chapelizod.