Talbot's first preferment was the rectory of Burghfield, Berkshire (1682), a living in the gift of his kinsman, Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury. The deanery of Worcester was vacant after the deprivation of George Hickes as a nonjuror, and Shrewsbury's interest secured the appointment of Talbot in April 1691. Hickes drew up a protest (2 May) claiming a "legal right", which he affixed to the entrance to the choir of Worcester Cathedral. John Tillotson then gave Talbot (8 June) a Lambeth degree of D.D.