 He was Member of Parliament for Exeter from 1743 to 1747 and subsequently for Devonshire from 1747 until his death in 1776.He was Lieutenant-Colonel of the East Devon Militia from its formation in 1758 until he resigned in 1771.On 8 August 1742 in the chapel of Somerset House, London, he married Jane Codrington (d.1789), daughter and heiress of Colonel John Codrington of Charlton House, Wraxall, Somerset, by whom he had six sons and seven daughters including