 Bampfylde was the son and heir of George Bampfylde, 1st Baron Poltimore, by his second wife Caroline Buller, daughter of General Frederick William Buller.Bampfylde succeeded his father in the barony in 1858.He sat on the Liberal benches in the House of Lords and served in the first Liberal administration of William Ewart Gladstone as Treasurer of the Household from 1872 to 1874.