He seldom attended Parliament, and spent time running his father's Mesopotamia Estate in Jamaica, on which the family owned slaves.
[3] Barham stood down from Parliament at the 1826 UK general election, as his father had fallen out with the seat's new patron.
At the 1830 UK general election, he stood in Stockbridge again, this time in support of the Tories, but was defeated.
[3] Barham next stood in the 1834 Kendal by-election, which he won, and he held the seat at the 1835 UK general election.
[2] By 1836, he was in poor health, and in March 1837 he was certified as being of unsound mind, leading to him not standing in the 1837 UK general election.