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.History of Parliament 1820-1832 vol I p. 253. 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.
