Cox immediately opened it as a show cave and ran it as a private enterprise until landowner, Thomas Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath, took it over at the beginning of the 20th century.
before=The Marquess of Bath|
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Other than Bedford himself, notable members included John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich; Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower; Richard Rigby, who served as principal Commons manager for the group; Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth; Edward Thurlow; and George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough
In 1700 he was created D.D. He was then or soon after residing in the family of Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth at Longleat, Wiltshire.
On 28 July 1714, upon the death of his great uncle Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth, though he was only four years old, he inherited Longleat House and its great estates and succeeded to the Baronetcy of Thynne, of Kempsford, Gloucestershire, and (by special remainder) to the titles of Baron Thynne of Warminster, Wiltshire, and Viscount Weymouth, of Dorset.
Known by the courtesy title Viscount Weymouth from birth, he was born at The Stable Yard, St James's, London, the eldest son of John Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath, by the Honourable Frances Isabella Catherine Vesey, daughter of Thomas Vesey, 3rd Viscount de Vesci.