At the 1885 general election Shepherd-Cross was elected MP for Bolton. He held the seat until 1906.[3] In 1896 he purchased the Palewell estate at East Sheen for development and within a few years 150 houses had been built there.[4] He also bequeathed land in his will to what would become All Saints Church, East Sheen.[5] He purchased land adjacent to Clapham Common Northside in Battersea, from Thomas Wallis in September 1894, where he developed terraced housing after 1895.[6]
Shepherd married in 1870 Lucy Mary Shepherd Birley daughter of Rev. John Shepherd Birley of Kirkham, Lancashire.
The memorial to Herbert Shepherd-Cross in St Peter's Church, Tewin, Hertfordshire.