Denman and his young family were immensely popular with the general public, and he enjoyed friendly relations with Prime Minister Andrew Fisher, with whom he shared many similar political opinions.

Denman never again held public office, but remained active in the House of Lords and briefly commanded a unit in the First World War.

However, his mother remarried twice – in 1879 to James Walker (annulled due to desertion), and then in 1888 to Henry Primrose (a civil servant and cousin of Lord Rosebery).

Returning to active service following the outbreak of the Second Boer War, he was on 3 February 1900 commissioned as a lieutenant of the 11th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry,[1] and left Liverpool for South Africa on the SS Cymric in March 1900.

[5] In 1911, Lord Harcourt, the Colonial Secretary, offered Denman the post of Governor-General of Australia,[6] apparently to get him out of domestic politics.

As the most politically liberal Governor-General yet appointed, he got on well with the Labor ministers, and his modesty and generosity with his father-in-law's money made him popular with the public.

As Australia, along with the other dominions, achieved political maturity, its Prime Minister communicated directly with his British counterpart, cutting the Colonial Secretary and the Governor-General out of the loop.

[12] He held the appointment of honorary colonel of the successor unit, the 2nd Cavalry Divisional Signals (Middlesex Yeomanry), from 11 April 1923[13] to 13 July 1934.

[14] He remained loyal to Asquith and the Liberals and so did not hold office again, leading a quiet life until his death in Hove, Sussex, 22 days after that of his wife.