 Michael Hicks-Beach, 1st Earl St Aldwyn, was his elder brother.He had an active local public life as a Justice of the Peace of the county of Gloucestershire from 1879, serving eight years as chairman of the Cheltenham bench, and was by 1900 an alderman of Gloucestershire County Council, on which he served as chairman of its Public Health Committee.He was chairman of a Rural District Council for 46 years, and of Gloucester Board of Diocesan Finance.