Career
Stradbroke was the son of Sir John Rous, 5th Baronet, and succeeded as sixth Baronet on his father"s death in 1771. In 1780 he was elected to the House of Commons for Suffolk, a seat he held until 1796. The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Rous, of Dennington in the County of Suffolk.
In 1821 he was further honoured when he was made Viscount Dunwich, in the County of Suffolk, and Earl of Stradbroke, in the County of Suffolk.