Francis North, 1st Baron Guilford

Francis North, 1st Baron Guilford PC KC^[1](1637–1685) was the third son of the 4th Baron North, and was created Baron Guilford in 1683, after becoming Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in succession to Lord Nottingham.

He had been an eminent lawyer, Solicitor-General (1671), Attorney-General (1673), and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (1675), and in 1679 was made a member of the Council of Thirty and on its dissolution of the Cabinet. He was a man of wide culture and a staunch royalist. He was hostile to Lord Jeffreys, and regarded the future Chief Justice, Sir Robert Wright, as utterly unfit for any judicial office.

He was generally respected for integrity, but sometimes accused of self-importance and a lack of any sense of humour; for example his excessive agitation at the ridiculous rumour spread by Sunderland and Jeffreys that he had been seen riding on a rhinoceros.

In 1672 he married Lady Frances Pope, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Pope, 3rd Earl of Downe, who inherited the Wroxton estate, and he was succeeded as 2nd baron by his son Francis (1673–1729).

References

^ http://thepeerage.com/p3023.htm#i30223

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Sir Robert Wright John Coke	Member of Parliament for Kings Lynn 1673–1675 With: Sir Robert Wright	Succeeded by Sir Robert Wright Robert Coke
Legal offices
Preceded by Sir Edward Turnour	Solicitor General 1671–1673	Succeeded by Sir William Jones
Preceded by Sir Heneage Finch	Attorney General 1673–1683	Succeeded by Sir William Jones
Preceded by Sir John Vaughan	Chief Justice of the Common Pleas 1675–1682	Succeeded by Sir Francis Pemberton
Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Nottingham	Lord Keeper 1682–1685	Succeeded by The Lord Jeffreys

Judges appointed under the Fire of London Disputes Act 1666

Judges	Sir John Archer • Sir Robert Atkyns • Sir Orlando Bridgman • Sir William Ellys • Sir Heneage Finch • Sir Matthew Hale • Sir Timothy Littleton • Sir William Morton • Sir Francis North • Sir Richard Rainsford • Sir Christopher Turnor • Sir Edward Turnour • Sir Thomas Twisden • Sir Thomas Tyrrell • Sir John Vaughan • Sir William Wilde • Sir Hugh Wyndham

Other	John Michael Wright (Artist)

Persondata
Name	Guilford, Francis North, 1st Baron
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1637
Place of birth
Date of death	1685
Place of death