The second son of the 9th Earl of Northampton (later the First Marquess), Compton studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, receiving a Master of Arts degree in 1810.

After 1820 Compton took up residence in Italy, where his house became a centre of attraction, and exercised his influence in favour of many of the unfortunate victims of despotic authority both in Lombardy and in Naples.

He supported the Reform Bill in the House of Lords, but became more engaged in promoting the arts and sciences.

Compton was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1846.

[2] On 24 July 1815 Compton married Margaret Douglas-Maclean-Clephane, who was a poet admired by Sir Walter Scott and William Wordsworth, although her poetry was not published.