| Constituency | Dates |
|---|---|
| St Ives | 1715 – 1727 |
| Norfolk | 1727 – 28 May 1728 |
| St Ives | 1747 – 1754 |
V.-adm. Norf. 1719 – d. ld. of Trade 1721 – 27; treasurer of the chamber 1727 – 44; assay master of the stannaries 1727 – 38; ld. lt. Norf. 1739 – d. capt. of gent. pensioners 1744 – d. P.C. 3 Jan. 1745.
Hobart’s family, settled at Blickling since 1616, had represented the county and boroughs of Norfolk since the seventeenth century. His father strenuously supported the revolution in 1688, became a gentleman of the horse to William III, and fought at the battle of the Boyne. Besides his electoral influence in Norfolk, he controlled one, and from 1741 two, seats at St. Ives, and from 1721 one seat at Bere Alston, for all of which he returned government supporters, mostly his own relatives and friends. His sister, Henrietta Howard, later Lady Suffolk, was George II’s mistress.
Returned for St. Ives in 1715, Hobart voted for the septennial bill and the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts, but against the peerage bill. On 23 Mar. 1726 he seconded a motion for bringing in a bill making some provision for the family of Richard Hampden. At the accession of George II he was returned for both Bere Alston and Norfolk, choosing to sit for the county. No doubt through his sister’s influence, he was appointed treasurer of the chamber and assay master of the stannaries, and was created a peer at the coronation.
He died 22 Sept. 1756, aged 61.