 In 1884 he succeeded his father as fifth Earl of Arran but as this was an Irish peerage it did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords.However, later the same year he was created Baron Sudley, of Castle Gore in the County of Mayo, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which gave him an automatic seat in the upper chamber of Parliament.He later served as Lord Lieutenant of County Mayo from 1889 to 1901 and was made a Knight of the Order of St Patrick in 1898.