In 1771 he was created Earl of Roden, of High Roding in the County of Tipperary, in the Peerage of Ireland.

He was also a professional soldier who played a decisive if somewhat ruthless role in suppressing the Irish Rebellion of 1798.

His son, the third Earl, represented County Louth in the British House of Commons and was Auditor-General of the Exchequer in Ireland.

His grandson, the fourth Earl, Viscount Jocelyn's son, served in the second Conservative administration of Benjamin Disraeli as a Lord-in-Waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) from 1874 to 1880.

Their son, also named Robert, the eighth Earl, sat in the House of Lords as an Irish representative peer between 1919 and 1956.

The family seat was Hyde Hall, near Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, and Tollymore Park, near Bryansford, County Down.

[5] In 2005 he published a book Tollymore : the story of an Irish demesne about his childhood and the family connection to their former estate in County Down, Northern Ireland.

[5] In 2006 he sold the Roden estate's remaining interests in the town of Dundalk, mainly freeholds and ground rents.