This college was considered the most academic at Oxford, and went up with his closest companions at Eton William Wyndham Grenville, Richard, Lord Wellesley, and Canon Bathurst, his cousin.

It was through the ultra Tories Pitt and Wellington that he helped to gain recognition for the independence of Spain and Portugal; a policy decision that was influential on the Peninsular War.

Later on, he would support Canada and Australia to establish 'white' dominion status, a legacy of what one historian has noted was the significant tenure of Secretary of War and Colonies before Palmerston in the 19th century.

Lord Apsley was member of the British Parliament for Cirencester from July 1783, when he was elected the moment he turned 21 but refused to serve with the Whigs owing to a friendship with Tory William Pitt.

On 3 June 1791 he sat on the committee of Inquiry into the Prince of Wales' civil list and use of funds which were granted for the heir apparent's household at Carlton House.

In 1801 he was a Joint clerk of the crown in Chancery worth £1,100 pa; a position that monitored claims and civil suits, giving him an eye for better administrative competence.

When Pitt was asked to resume as Prime Minister he chose his old friend again in May 1804, to be Master of the Mint in new offices built by Robert Smirke in July, while he worked on the entrance hall at Cirencester.

For the two months from 11 October 1809 he was briefly in charge of the Foreign Office he imposed a travel ban to Portugal, withdrawing diplomat Henry Williams-Wynne.

[5] Bathurst deserves some credit for improving the conduct of the Peninsular War, while it was his duty to defend the government concerning its treatment of Napoleon Bonaparte.

He ordered the Provincial Marines to be replaced with Royal Navy personnel authorising the occupation of the Great Lakes; yet organized with the defence of Canada in mind.

When Wellington in turn was called to form a government a few months later in the aftermath of Canning's death, he opted for a middle-of-the-road cabinet and Bathurst had to contend with the relatively minor position of Lord President of the council.

[6] A close friend of Castlereagh's and Wellington's, Bathurst shared their view that the first responsibility of government was to try to preserve the established order both at home and overseas.

While himself an efficient and conscientious bureaucrat, he ran the Colonial Office on traditional, paternalistic lines and overseas posting owed much to status, nepotism and family contacts.

He appointed his brother-in-law the Duke of Richmond, who was in financial straits, Governor-General of Canada and sent out his son-in-law, Major General Sir Frederic Ponsonby, to be Governor of Malta.

To prevent a Tory split he supported Pitt's decision to return the Cape of Good Hope colony in Feb 1801, voted to keep the Aliens Act 1793 and wanted foreigners to carry passports.

[5] The collapse of wages and economic depression since 1800 exercised the mind of the Board President "When I paused over this scene of misery, unequalled in the history of civilised times, I felt naturally to demand, how it was possible to sustain existence in such circumstances, and whether it were not practicable to administer charitable aid?"

Much of the blame for importuned labourers begging in the streets was protectionism, Lord Brougham demanding on 13 March 1817, "a full and unsparing review of the whole commercial policy of this country".

Bathurst's official position caused his name to be mentioned frequently during the agitation for the abolition of slavery, and with regard to this traffic, he seems to have been animated by a humane spirit.

[5] This is recognised in the naming of the town of Bathurst, Eastern Cape, which was renamed in memorial for a humanitarian gesture towards the settlers of Albany, and parliamentary censure of Lord Charles Somerset, its excessively punitive governor-general.

Bathurst was Lord President of the Council in the government of the Duke of Wellington from 1828 to 1830, and favoured the removal of the disabilities of Roman Catholics, although did not believe that it would improve the constitution and so voted against.