He was the child and son of John Talbot of Longford, Newport, Shropshire (died London, 1607 or c. 1607), and his wife Eleanor Baskerville, daughter of Sir Thomas Baskerville of Wolvershill, Herefordshire, and of Brinsop, Herefordshire, and paternal grandson of Sir John Talbot of Grafton and Catherine or Katharine Petre.
He remained in his family's Roman Catholic faith and took part on the side of King Charles I in the English Civil War.
He was First Commissioner of Advice for the counties of Worcestershire, Shropshire and Staffordshire in 1644/45, and he served on the Royalist garrison at Worcester when it surrendered to Parliament in July 1646.
In 1647 his estates were sequestered and compounded by Parliament on grounds of his being a "Papist and delinquent" (i.e. Catholic and royalist).
[1] In September 1651 he accompanied Charles II when he fled after defeat at the battle of Worcester, escorting him to White Ladies Priory in Shropshire, where the king was hidden for a time.