Thomas Taylour, 1st Marquess of Headfort

Like his father and several of his brothers, Taylour represented Kells in the Irish House of Commons from 1776 to 1790. Subsequently, he sat as Member of Parliament for Longford Borough until 1794 and then for County Meath until 1795, when he succeeded his father as earl. He became Marquess of Headfort in 1800 and was appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick on 15 May 1806.^[4]

Taylour served as Sheriff of County Meath in 1786 and as a Governor of County Meath.^[5] He was commissioned as the first Colonel of the Royal Meath Militia on 25 April 1793^[6] and remained in command until he handed over to his son in 1823.^[7] He succeeded to his father's earldom on 14 Feb 1795 and was himself created the Marquess of Headfort in the Peerage of Ireland on 29 December 1800. From 1800 to 1829, he was an Irish representative peer. He was made a Knight of St Patrick in 1806 and served as a Lord of the Bedchamber from 1812 to 1829.^[5]

On 5 December 1778, Taylour married Mary Quin, the daughter of George Quin and Caroline Cavendish (a daughter of Sir Henry Cavendish, Bt and sister of Sir Henry Cavendish, Bt). Her maternal grandparents were Mary (née Widenham) Quin and Valentine Quin (the grandfather of the 1st Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, who was also 1st Viscount Mount-Earl).^[8] Together, they were the parents of two sons and two daughters, including:^[5]

• Lady Mary Taylour (1782–1843), Lady of the Bedchamber to Princess Augusta.^[5]
• Thomas Taylour, 2nd Marquess of Headfort (1787–1870), married Olivia (née Stevenson) Dalton, daughter of composer Sir John Andrew Stevenson and widow of Edward Tuite Dalton (from this marriage she was the mother of Adelaide Dalton, wife of John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar), in 1822.^[9] After her death in 1834, he remarried to Lady Frances Macnaghten, a widow of British diplomat Sir William Hay Macnaghten.^[5]
• Lady Elizabeth Jane Taylour (1790–1837)^[5]
• Lord George Quin (né Taylour) (1792–1888), who married Lady Georgiana Charlotte Spencer (1794–1823), the second daughter of George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer, in 1814. After Lady Georgiana's death, in 1847 he married Louisa Ramsden, the eldest daughter of Sir John Ramsden, 4th Baronet and a granddaughter of Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount of Irvine.

Headfort eloped in 1803 with the wife of Reverend Charles D. Massy (son of Sir Hugh Dillon Massy), resulting in a lawsuit, 10,000 pounds damages and, for the plaintiff, one of John Philpot Curran's most famous speeches.^[10] Headfort died on 24 October 1829. His widow died on 12 August 1842.^[11]