His mother was Harriet Catherine, daughter of Charles Greville, while George Egerton, 2nd Earl of Ellesmere, and the Honourable Francis Egerton were his elder brothers.
He held office under Benjamin Disraeli as Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty from 1874 to 1880.
On 16 May 1860 he was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the 3rd Manchester Rifles, a Rifle Volunteer unit recently raised by his political colleague John Snowdon Henry.
He later became its Honorary Colonel, and in 1875 his nephew, Francis Egerton, 3rd Earl of Ellesmere became lieutenant-colonel commandant.
[1][2] Egerton married Alice Louisa, daughter of Lord George Cavendish, in 1863.