Career
Lansdowne travelled widely in spite of his ill health, which in turn was not helped by the burden of the debts he inherited from his father. To repay them, he sold almost all of his father’s collections, leaving Bowood House, the family seat, temporarily uninhabitable. He served in the House of Commons for Wycombe, his father"s old seat, from 1786 to 1802, but due to his weakened constitution he only survived the first marquess by four years.