Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnel (1630 – 14 August 1691), the fifth son of Sir William Talbot, Bart., of Carton, was descended from an old Norman family which had settled in Leinster in the eleventh century. Like most Anglo-Norman families in Ireland the Talbots had adopted the customs of the Irish and had, like the Irish, adhered to the Catholic faith. He married Frances Jennings , sister of Sarah Jennings (the future Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough). He was also known by the nickname "Mad Dick" Talbot.

During the Irish Confederate Wars that followed the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Talbot served in Confederate Ireland's Leinster army as cavalry cornet or junior officer. He was taken prisoner by the Parliamentarians after the battle of Dungans Hill in 1647, but was ransomed back to his own side. In 1649, he also survived the Cromwellian sack of Drogheda, escaping from the garrison before it was massacred. Shortly after this, he fled Ireland, to join his fellow defeated Royalists in France.

Talbot had been introduced to Charles II and James, Duke of York (later James II) when they were exiles in Flanders, as a result of the English Civil War. Talbot then lived like many other royalist refugees, partly by casual military service, but also by acting as a subordinate agent in plots to upset the Commonwealth and murder Cromwell. He was arrested in London in November 1655 and was examined by Cromwell. Once more he escaped, but it was said by his enemies that he was bribed by Cromwell, with whom one of his brothers was certainly in correspondence. He was actively engaged in an infamous intrigue to ruin the character of Anne Hyde, the Duke's wife-to-be, but continued in James's employment and saw some service at sea in the naval wars with the Dutch. After the Restoration he continued to have a place in the household of the Duke of York. Talbot accumulated money by acting as agent for Irish Roman Catholics who sought to recover their confiscated property. He was arrested and exiled for supposed complicity in the Popish Plot agitation in 1678, but was allowed to go into exile.

After the accession of James II in 1685, he was created Baron of Talbotstown, Viscount Baltinglass and Earl of Tyrconnel, and sent as commander in chief of the forces in Ireland. In this capacity and as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1687–88) he placed Catholics in positions of control in the state and the militia, which the Duke of Ormonde had previously organised. Consequently the entire Roman Catholic population sided with James II in the Glorious Revolution. Thus, in 1689, when James landed at Dublin with his French officers, Talbot had an Irish army ready to assist him. After James came to Ireland, he created Talbot Duke of Tyrconnel—a title recognized only by the Jacobites. After defeat in the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, Tyrconnel went to France for aid. He returned to Ireland in 1691, but died of apoplexy just before the fall of Limerick. Some contemporary accounts say that he was poisoned, but this is unsubstantiated.

Richard Talbot's brother Peter entered the Society of Jesus and remained in it many years. Later he left the Jesuits and became a secular priest, and was in 1669 appointed Archbishop of Dublin by the Pope. Peter was arrested in connection with the Irish branch of the Popish Plot. He died in prison in 1680.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.