[1] In 1739, Edgcumbe was commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Navy and in 1742 was promoted to be commander of the bomb vessel HMS Terrible.

He hastily landed the marines and as many of the seamen as could be spared, and sailed the next day for Gibraltar before the French had taken any measures to block the harbour.

In the Battle of Minorca, on 20 May the Lancaster was one of the ships in the van, under Rear-Admiral Temple West, which did get into action, and being unsupported suffered severely.

On his return to England, with the despatches announcing this success, he was appointed to the 74-gun HMS Hero, in which he took part in the blockade of Brest during the long summer of 1759, and in the crowning Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759.

[5] He was created Viscount Mount Edgcumbe and Valletort in 1781 and, in 1784, he was also elected a fellow of the Royal Society.

and they had one child:[1] Lord Mount Edgcumbe died on 4 February 1795 and his only son, Richard, succeeded to his titles.

[6] A manuscript journal, kept by Edgcumbe and Captain William Marsh, from 30 April 1742 to 1 June 1744, is in the Bodleian Library.

[4] The town of Edgecomb, Maine was named for George Edgcumbe due to his support of the colonists during the American Revolution.