Maryland planter and legislator.

Justice of the peace, Talbot County (1741-72, intermittently). Represented Talbot County (1751-58, 1768-74) and Queen Anne County (1760-61) in the Maryland Assembly; speaker (1773-74). Member of anti- proprietary party; active in protests against Townshend Acts. Delegate to Continental Congress (1774-76). President of Maryland Council of Safety and of Maryland Constitutional Convention (1776). Member of Maryland Senate (1776-83).

Son of Richard and Anna Maria (Lloyd) Tilghman. Brother of Edward Tilghman. Married Anna Lloyd (1741); five children, including Margaret, who married Charles Carroll (1723-83), and Anna Maria, who married Washington’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman.