[1] As a zealous Tory he defended Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, and in the House of Lords was an opponent of Sir Robert Walpole.

[2] Careful never to engage in Jacobite plots, for example, he condemned Sir John Fenwick's conspiracy, Bathurst remained largely remote from politics during Walpole's tenure as Prime Minister.

After Walpole left office, Bathurst was made a Privy Councillor on 13 July 1742 and served as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen Pensioners from 1742 to 1744.

He was subsequently appointed Treasurer to Frederick, Prince of Wales after the heir to the throne had fallen out with King George II and been banned from Kensington Palace.

Upon the accession of George III, Frederick's son, as King in 1760, Bathurst secured an annual pension of £2,000 on the heavily taxed Irish establishment.

In 1719 he was one of the original backers of the Royal Academy of Music, establishing a London opera company which commissioned numerous works from Handel, Bononcini and others.

His brother Henry Bathurst served as Bishop of Norwich and his niece was Caroline de Crespigny, a poet who some claim to be one of Lord Byron's many mistresses.