He was the eldest son of Sir Francis Skipwith, 3rd Baronet (c 1705–1778), of Newbold Pacey Hall. His mother Ursula, was the daughter of Thomas Cartwright Member of Parliament, from Northamptonshire. Her brother was William Cartwright Member of Parliament.
Skipwith was educated at Rugby School and at Trinity College, Cambridge.
George Shirley and granddaughter of the 1st Earl Ferrers). They had no children, and the baronetcy which he inherited from his father in 1778 became extinct on his death. His estates were left to his relative Sir Grey Skipwith, 8th Baronet.
He was re-elected in 1774, but refused to stand again in 1780, when he was returned for the borough of Steyning in Sussex.
He had been given that seat by Sir John Honywood, but the two men fell out and Skipwith was not re-elected in 1784.
13th Parliament of Great Britain. 14th Parliament of Great Britain. 15th Parliament of Great Britain]
He was elected as a Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Warwickshire at a by-election in 1769, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William Throckmorton Bromley Member of Parliament. A former member of the Birmingham Bean Club, he had been recommended in 1764 as a sound Tory, but fell in with the Rockingham Whigs and voted consistently with that faction.
