In 1678 he became captain in the Guards, with which he served in Tangier; in 1685 he was made lieutenant-colonel of a regiment of fusiliers, but gave up his commission shortly after the accession of James II. Tollemache abandoned King James in favour of the Protestant William of Orange who, in 1688 successfully usurped the English throne during the Glorious Revolution. For his services to William, now King William III, he was made governor of Portsmouth and colonel of the Coldstream Guards; in 1689 he was chosen an English member of parliament.