In 1880, he entered the House of Commons for Winchester as a Liberal, a seat he held until 1885.

[3] He disagreed with William Ewart Gladstone over Irish Home Rule and later represented Biggleswade as a Liberal Unionist from 1886 to 1892.

[2] On 26 June 1894, Lord Northbrook married firstly Ada Ethel Sophie, daughter of Col. Cuthbert Davidson CB, and former wife of Ian Robert James Murray Grant of Glenmoriston.

[1] He married secondly Florence Anita, daughter of Eyre Coote and widow of Sir Robert John Abercromby, 7th Baronet, in 1899.

[1] Lord Northbrook died in April 1929, aged 78, when the viscountcy of Baring and earldom became extinct.