He was styled Viscount Ingestre from the death of his elder brother in 1826 and succeeded his father as 3rd Earl Talbot in 1849.

He commanded HMS Philomel at the Battle of Navarino, and was picked by Vice-Admiral Codrington to bring home the despatches announcing the victory.

[7] On 2 June 1832 his father appointed him Lieutenant-Colonel of the King's Own Staffordshire Militia,[8] which he resigned in early 1846.

As Viscount Ingestre, while serving in the House of Commons, he was a leading supporter of the charlatan naval inventor Samuel Alfred Warner.

[11] He returned to the House of Commons as one of the two representatives for Staffordshire South in 1837, a seat he held until he succeeded his father in the Talbot earldom in 1849.