Frederick North, Lord North
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| Lord North | |
 portrait by Nathaniel Dance |
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| In office 28 January 1770 – 22 March 1782 |
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| Monarch | George III |
| Preceded by | The Duke of Grafton |
| Succeeded by | The Marquess of Rockingham |
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| In office 11 September 1767 – 27 March 1782 |
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| Monarch | George III |
| Preceded by | Charles Townshend |
| Succeeded by | Lord John Cavendish |
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| Born | 13 April 1732 Piccadilly, London |
| Died | 5 August 1792 (aged 60) Grosvenor Square, London |
| Political party | Tory |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Oxford |
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 figure in the American Revolution. He is also more commonly known as the 'Man who lost America' to Britain, due to his tactic failures during the Revolutionary wars as well as his interference with the Sugar Act in 1764.
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[edit] Life
Lord North was born at Wroxton Abbey. His father, the first Earl, was at the time Lord of the Bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales, who stood as godfather to the infant. Lord North's strong physical resemblance to George III, suggested to his contemporaries that the Prince may have been North's real father, a theory supported by the Prince's reputation but by little else.[1] He was descended from the 1st Earl of Sandwich and was related to Samuel Pepys and the 3rd Earl of Bute. 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 holds the rather dubious distinction of being the first prime minister, in Britain or indeed anywhere else in the world, to be forced out of office by a motion of no confidence, resigning on 20 March 1782 on account of 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. Most of his government was focused first on the growing problems with the American colonies and later on the actual Revolutionary War. Guilford County, North Carolina is named for the father of Lord North. It was established in 1771, and today contains the cities of Greensboro and High Point, being the third most populous county in North Carolina. A preserved 18th century door on display in Edinburgh Castle shows a hangman's scaffold labelled "Lord Nord" carved by a prisoner captured during the American 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.
[edit] Lord North's Government
[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] 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] Quotes
"Oh my God! It's all over" - upon hearing news of the surrender at Yorktown.
[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] Notes
- ^ Tuchman, Barbara (1984). The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam. New York: Knopf, 185.
[edit] External links
- More about Lord North on the Downing Street website.
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| Persondata | |
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| 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 |
