He was elected a member of the Long Parliament in 1640, and during the Civil War was a partisan of Charles I. In 1643 he was created Baron Hatton of Kirby; and, acting as comptroller of the royal household, he represented the king during the negotiations at Uxbridge in 1645. Later he lived for some years in France, and after the Restoration was made a privy councillor and governor of Guernsey. He died at Kirby on July 4, 1670, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. By his wife Elizabeth (d. 1672), daughter of Sir Charles Montagu of Boughton, he had two sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Christopher, succeeded him.