He fought at the Battle of Flodden in 1513 under the Earl of Surrey and was afterwards knighted.
He was summoned to the House of Lords in 1514 and held the office of Justice of the Peace (J.P.) for County Durham in 1516.
He accompanied Henry VIII with other knights to Henry's meeting with Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in France.
In 1536 he took part in the insurrection known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, but was pardoned by the Duke of Norfolk, who had been sent by the King to deal with the rebels.
George, however, was attainted and subsequently executed in his father's lifetime on 2 June 1537 for his own more active role in the Pilgrimage of Grace, whereby the family barony was forfeited.