Frederick North, Lord North

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rt. Hon. Lord North
Prime Minister of Great Britain
In office 28 January 1770 – 22 March 1782
Preceded by	The Duke of Grafton
Succeeded by	The Marquess of Rockingham
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 11 September 1767 – 27 March 1782
Preceded by	Charles Townshend
Succeeded by	Lord John Cavendish
Born	13 April 1732 Piccadilly, London
Died	5 August 1792 Grosvenor Square, London
Political party	Tory

Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford, KG, PC (13 April 1732 – 5 August 1792), more often known by his courtesy title, Lord North, which he used from 1752 until 1790, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782, and a major actor in the American Revolution.

Lord North was born at Wroxton Abbey as the eldest of his father's six children; his parents were the 1st Earl of Guilford and Lady Lucy Montagu. The other children came from Lord Guilford's second marriage. North had a full sister Lucy who is said to have married a tradesman, whereupon her family denied her existence; however, recent research has failed to find any contemporary evidence of the period to support that story beyond any reasonable doubt.

He was educated at Eton College between 1742 and 1748, and at Trinity College, Oxford where in 1750 he was awarded an MA. After leaving Oxford he travelled in Europe, visiting Leipzig where he studied at the University of Leipzig. He visited Vienna, Milan and Paris, returning to England in 1753.

He served as a Member of Parliament from 1754 to 1790 and first joined the government as a junior Lord of the Treasury on 2 June 1759 during the Newcastle-Pitt coalition. North was appointed Joint Paymaster of the Forces in Chatham's ministry and became a Privy Counsellor in 1766.

In December 1767, he succeeded Charles Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer. When the Duke of Grafton resigned as Prime Minister, North formed a government on 28 January 1770. He resigned on 27 March 1782, after a vote of no confidence — the first ever in Britain — resulting from the British defeat at Yorktown the year before. In an attempt to end the war, he proposed the Conciliation Plan, in which he promised that Britain would eliminate all disagreeable acts if the colonies ended the war. The colonies rejected the plan, as their motivation was independence. (He is famously supposed to have cried, "Oh God! It's all over! It's all over!" when this happened). Most of his government was focused first on the growing problems with the American colonies and later on the actual Revolutionary War.

In April 1783, North returned to power as Home Secretary in an unlikely coalition with the radical Whig leader Charles James Fox known as the Fox-North Coalition under the nominal leadership of the Duke of Portland. King George III, who detested Fox, never forgave this supposed betrayal, and North never again served in government after the ministry fell in December 1783.

He left his seat in Parliament when he went blind in 1790, shortly before succeeding his father as Earl of Guilford, spending his final years in the House of Lords. He died in London and was buried at All Saints' Church, Wroxton (Oxfordshire) near his family home of Wroxton Abbey.

Ironically, North's family home, Wroxton Abbey is now owned by Fairleigh Dickinson University, an American college. The now modernized abbey currently serves as a location for American students to study abroad.

Contents 1 Marriage and family 2 Bibliography 2.1 Primary sources 3 Titles from birth to death 4 Triva

[edit] Marriage and family

Lord North married Anne Speke (before 1741-1797) on 20 May 1756. They had at least three children:

• Lady Charlotte North (died 25 October 1849), who married Lt. Col. The Hon. John Lindsay (15 March 1762-6 March 1826), son of the 5th Earl of Balcarres, on 2 April 1800.
• George Augustus North, 3rd Earl of Guilford (11 September 1757-20 April 1802), who married, firstly, Maria Frances Mary Hobart-Hampden (died 23 April 1794), daughter of the 3rd Earl of Buckinghamshire, on 30 September 1785 and had issue. He married, secondly, Susan Coutts (died 24 September 1837), on 28 February 1796.
• Lady Anne North (before 1783-18 January 1832), who married the 1st Earl of Sheffield on 20 January 1798 and had two children.

[edit] Bibliography

• Butterfield, Herbert. George III, Lord North, and the People, 1779-80 (1949)
• Charles Daniel Smith. The Early Career of Lord North, the Prime Minister, (1979)
• Valentine, Alan. Lord North (1967, 2 vol.), the standard biography

[edit] Primary sources

• Lord North, The Correspondence of King George the Third with Lord North from 1768 to 1783 ed by George, William Bodham Donne, ed. (1867) online edition

[edit] Titles from birth to death

• The Hon. Frederick North (1732-1752)
• Lord North (1752-1754)
• Lord North, MP (1754-1766)
• The Rt. Hon. Lord North, MP (1766-1772)
• The Rt. Hon. Lord North, KG, MP (1772-1790)
• The Rt. Hon. Lord North, KG (1790)
• The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Guilford, KG, PC (1790-1792)

[edit] Triva

• By his Montagu relations he was descended from the 1st Earl of Sandwich and was related to Samuel Pepys and the 3rd Earl of Bute.

Political offices
Preceded by Charles Townshend	Paymaster of the Forces 1766–1767 (jointly with George Cooke)	Succeeded by George Cooke and Thomas Townshend
Preceded by Charles Townshend	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1767–1782	Succeeded by The Lord John Cavendish
	Leader of the House of Commons 1767–1782	Succeeded by Charles James Fox
Preceded by The Duke of Grafton	Prime Minister 1770–1782	Succeeded by The Marquess of Rockingham
Preceded by The Earl of Holdernesse	Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1778–1792	Succeeded by William Pitt the Younger
Preceded by Thomas Townshend	Home Secretary 1783	Succeeded by The Earl Temple
	Leader of the House of Commons 1783 (jointly with Charles James Fox)	Succeeded by William Pitt the Younger
Honorary Titles
Preceded by The Duke of Bedford	President of the Foundling Hospital 1771–1793	Succeeded by The Duke of Portland
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Francis North	Earl of Guilford 1790–1792	Succeeded by George North

Persondata
NAME	North, Frederick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	North, Frederick North, Lord; Guildford, 2nd Earl
SHORT DESCRIPTION	British politician & prime minister
DATE OF BIRTH	13 April 1732
PLACE OF BIRTH	Piccadilly, London
DATE OF DEATH	5 August 1792
PLACE OF DEATH	Grosvenor Square, London