Returning to office with Pitt in May 1804 he became Master of the Mint, and was President of the Board of Trade and Master of the Mint during the ministries of the Duke of Portland and Spencer Perceval, only vacating these posts in June 1812 to become Secretary of State for War and the Colonies under Lord Liverpool. For two months during the year 1809 he was in charge of the foreign office. He was Secretary for War and the Colonies until Liverpool resigned in April 1827; and deserves some credit for improving the conduct of the Peninsular War, while it was his duty to defend the government concerning its treatment of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Bathurst’s official position caused his name to be mentioned frequently during the agitation for the abolition of slavery, and with regard to this traffic he seems to have been animated by a humane spirit. The current capital of The Gambia, Banjul, was originally named Bathurst after the earl.

He was Lord President of the Council in the government of the Duke of Wellington from 1828 to 1830, and favoured the removal of the disabilities of Roman Catholics, but was a sturdy opponent of the Reform Bill of 1832. The Earl, who had four sons and two daughters, died on 27 July 1834. Bathurst was made a Knight of the Garter in 1817, and held several lucrative sinecures.

Bathurst was portrayed by Christopher Lee in the South African television series Shaka Zulu.

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