 Cabbell was Conservative Party Member of Parliament for St Albans from August 1846 to July 1847, and then for Boston until he retired in March 1857.He was Deputy Lieutenant of Middlesex in 1852, and High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1854.He was president of the City of London General Pension Society, vice-president of the Royal Literary Fund, treasurer to the London Lock Hospital, and sub-treasurer to the Infant Orphan Asylum.