He was among the founders of the Constitutional Democratic Party (the "Kadets") and was chairman of the short-lived second convocation of the Imperial Russian Duma, which was in session from February 1907 to June 1907.

Golovin was born in Moscow into a noble family on December 21, 1867.

In the course of its short existence, this Duma tried unsuccessfully to reach agreement of among its various political factions, and in the following Third Duma Golovin was an ordinary member, serving on the Agricultural Committee.

After the February Revolution of 1917, Golovin became Commissioner of all the institutions of the former Ministry of the Imperial Court.

On the decision of the NKVD troika of the Moscow region, Golovin was convicted of the charge of belonging to an anti-Soviet organization, and was shot in Butovo on November 21, 1937, at the age of seventy.