He unsuccessfully contested the Middle Division of Surrey in 1880 and 1884, Tiverton in 1885 and Ipswich in 1886 but was finally elected as MP for Stowmarket in a by-election in 1891.

[7] Lord Wandsworth died at his London home, 10 Great Stanhope Street, Mayfair, on 10 February 1912, when the barony became extinct.

[1] He left an estate of nearly £1,555,985,[8] most of which was bequeathed to charity, over a million being given to found the Lord Wandsworth Orphanage.

In 1920 (after delays caused by World War I) the orphanage's trustees opened a preparatory school for boys and girls between 5 and 12 years old at Gosden House in Bramley, Surrey.

[9] Under the terms of Lord Wandsworth's will, preference was given to the children of agricultural labourers from his former constituency in the north-western or Stowmarket parliamentary division of Suffolk.