After a distinguished naval career Aylmer was brought into Parliament on the Admiralty interest. A strong Whig, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the fleet in 1709, but was superseded soon after the Tories came into power in 1710. Reinstated on George I’s accession, he was made a lord of the Admiralty in 1717 but retired in 1718, being succeeded on the Admiralty board by his son-in-law, Sir John Norris. He died 18 Aug. 1720. According to a contemporary he had
a very good head, indefatigable and designing; is very zealous for the liberties of the people; makes a good figure in the Parliament as well as the fleet; is handsome in his person.1John Macky, Mems. of the Secret Service, 166.
To which Swift added: ‘A virulent party man, born in Ireland’.2Prose Works (1902 ed.), x. 285.