On 4 May 1829 Norfolk, then Earl of Surrey, was elected to the
House of Commons for
Horsham. When he took his seat he became the first
Roman Catholic to sit in the House after Catholic emancipation. Surrey held the Horsham seat until 1832, and then represented
West Sussex between 1832 and 1841. He was sworn of the
Privy Council in 1837 and served under
Lord Melbourne as
Treasurer of the Household between 1837 and 1841. In the latter year he was summoned to the
House of Lords through a
writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Maltravers, and served briefly under Melbourne as
Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard between July and August 1841. The following year he succeeded his father in the dukedom of Norfolk. a position he retained until the government fell in 1852. He later served as
Lord Steward of the Household in
Lord Aberdeen's coalition government between 1853 and 1854. He was invested as a
Knight of the Garter in 1848. In 1854, Norfolk agreed to lease land to
Sheffield Cricket Club near
Bramall Lane for ninety-nine years, a site which is now home to
Sheffield United. ==Family==