William Bathurst, 5th Earl Bathurst

He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a Master of Arts in 1812.

The same year, aged twenty-one, he was elected to the House of Commons as one of two representatives for Weobley (succeeding his elder brother Lord Apsley), a seat he held until 1816.

He then returned to Christ Church and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1817.

Bathurst was a Deputy Teller of the Exchequer between 1816 and 1830 and a Commissioner for victualling the Royal Navy between 1825 and 1829 and served as Joint Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1830 to 1847 and as Joint Clerk of the Privy Council from 1830 to 1860.

In 1866, aged seventy-five, he succeeded his elder brother in the earldom and entered the House of Lords.