[1] In May 1874, Sargood entered the Victorian Legislative Council by winning a by-election for Central Province,[2] and, in 1875, he became the first chairman of the Melbourne Harbor Trust.

[1] Sargood was appointed a delegate by the Victorian government to represent the colony before the Imperial Commission for the protection of British possessions abroad.

Rifle clubs were formed and the important cadet corps movement for schoolboys was also due to Sargood's efforts.

When he joined his father's business it was a comparatively small one but, by then under the name of Sargood, Butler and Nichol, it became one of the largest in Australia, with branches in other cities.

Although Sargood's political leanings were conservative, he had piloted the first Factories Act through the Council with skill and, in his own firm, the Saturday half-holiday had been brought in as far back as 1852.

Sargood joined the George Turner government in September 1894 as Minister of Defence but, about three months later, again resigned on a question of principle.

On 2 January 1903, he died suddenly of heart failure while on a holiday in Taihape, New Zealand, and was buried at St Kilda Cemetery.