[1] At the 1900 general election, he contested the Buckrose division of the East Riding, where he lost by 91 votes (1.2%) to the Liberal candidate Luke White.
He held the seat with a majority of 4,771 votes (21.6%) over his Liberal Party opponent Herbert Leon, a former MP for Buckingham.
[5] Meysey-Thompson was an officer in the part-time Yeomanry, being commissioned into the Yorkshire Hussars on 22 August 1894,[1][6] promoted to captain on 21 May 1902,[7] and retiring with the rank of major on 30 September 1909.
[8][9] On the outbreak of World War I he was made a temporary major on 12 August 1914[10] and threw himself into raising units of artillery volunteers for Kitchener's Army.
Bury of Heworth Green, York, was listed as raising the unit on Meysey-Thompson's behalf because he was on service,[14] having been appointed on 1 October 1915 to command the Divisional Ammunition Column, RFA, for 5th Division on the Western Front.