English peer and literary patron.

Member of Parliament for Cirencester (1705-12). Ardent Tory. Raised to the peerage as Baron Bathurst as part of Queen Anne’s effort to pack the House of Lords (1712); subsequently received an earldom from George III (1772). Corresponded with and befriended numerous poets and wits, including Pope, Swift, Congreve, Prior, and Laurence Sterne.

Son of Sir Benjamin and Frances (Apsley) Bathurst. Educated at Trinity College, Oxford. Married his cousin Catherine Apsley in 1704; nine children.