Stafford was elected to parliament in 1744. With the death of his elder brother in 1746, he became known by the courtesy title of Viscount Trentham until he succeeded his father as Earl Gower in 1754. He built the earlier Lilleshall Hall, converting a 17th-century house located in the village of Lilleshall into a country residence around the late 1750s. Stafford was associated with the faction of the John Russell, Duke of Bedford, who was his brother-in-law, and as a member of that faction, called the "Bloomsbury Gang", was given many governmental positions. Following Bedford's death in 1771, Gower became leader of the group, and as Lord President in the administration of Frederick North, Lord North, he was a key supporter of a hard-line policy towards the American colonists. Between 1775–1778, Stafford proceeded to make substantial alterations to his home at Trentham Hall based on the designs by Henry Holland. By 1779, Gower resigned from the cabinet being frustrated by what he saw as the North administration's inept handling of the American Revolutionary War. And when North resigned in March 1782, Gower was approached to form a ministry, but he refused, and he refused subsequent overtures from both Lord Shelburne and the Fox-North coalition to enter the government. Instead, he became a key figure in bringing about the fall of the Fox-North coalition, and was rewarded with the position of Lord President once again in the new administration of William Pitt the Younger. Although he soon exchanged this office for that of Lord Privy Seal, and gradually began to withdraw from public affairs, he remained a cabinet minister until his retirement later in 1794. He was elected F.S.A. on 28 April 1784. In 1786, he was created Marquess of Stafford as a reward for his services. In 1799 he was estimated the fifth-wealthiest small family unit in Britain, owning £2.1M, having assets in land, mining and arterial canal-toll rights having speculatively invested in the latter projects, much of which in Staffordshire's Black Country. He died at Trentham Hall, Staffordshire, on 26 October 1803. He was the last surviving member of the Bloomsbury Gang.
Marriages and children
Stafford married three times. He married firstly Elizabeth Fazakerley, daughter of Nicholas Fazakerley, in 1744. Elizabeth died of smallpox two years later. They had no children.
Stafford married secondly Lady Louisa Egerton, daughter of the Scroop Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater, in 1748. She died in 1761. They were parents to four children:
When Lord Stafford died at the age of 82, he was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son George from his second marriage who was created Duke of Sutherland in 1833. The Marchioness of Stafford died in August 1805.
