The son of Geoffrey Taylour, 4th Marquess of Headfort, and his wife Rosie Boote, he was educated at Harrow School and Magdalen College, Oxford.[1] While at university, he was a cadet of Oxford University's contingent of the Officers Training Corps.[2]
On 21 June 1926, the then Earl of Bective was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Warwickshire Yeomanry, Territorial Army.[2] He was promoted to lieutenant on 21 June 1929,[3] and to captain on 27 April 1935.[4] He was aide-de-camp to the Governor of South Australia between 1939 and 1940, then between 1941 and 1942 was a Staff Captain with the Australian Military Forces. In 1943 he joined the War Office Military Secretary's Branch.[1] He was awarded the Efficiency Decoration (TD) in 1943 for long service in the Territorial Army.[1][5] Having reached the age limit, he retired from the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers on 20 August 1952 and was given permission to retain the rank of captain.[6]
On 29 January 1943, he succeeded his father as Marquess of Headfort (I., 1800), Earl of Bective (I., 1766), Viscount Headfort (I., 1762), Baron Headfort (I., 1760), and Baron Kenlis (U.K., 1831); he also became the eighth Taylor baronet (I., 1704).[1]
On 18 September 1928, as Earl of Bective, he married Elise Florence Tucker, daughter of James Partridge Tucker and Marion Kinnear, and they had two children:[1]
