[1] Somers sat as Member of Parliament for West Looe between 1782 and 1784,[1][2] for Grampound between 1784 and 1790[1][3] and finally for Reigate between 1790 and 1806.

[1][5] In 1821 he was created Earl Somers and accorded additional style Viscount Eastnor, of Eastnor Castle in the County of Hereford, to be the courtesy style of the eldest son of the Earl.

He married as his first wife Margaret, daughter of Reverend Treadway Russell Nash, on 19 March 1785.

His eldest son, Edward Charles Cocks, a British Army officer, was killed at the Siege of Burgos in 1812 during the Peninsular War, greatly to the regret of the Duke of Wellington, who valued him highly.

Somers died in January 1841, aged 80, and was succeeded in his titles by his second but eldest surviving son, John.