Earl of Guilford [q. v.], and one daughter, who died in infancy. His first wife died on 7 May 1734. He married, secondly, on 17 Jan. 1736, Elizabeth, only daughter of Sir Arthur Kaye, bart., and widow of George, viscount Lewisham. By her he had two sons, Brownlow, bishop of Winchester [q. v.], and Augustus, who died an infant on 24 June 1745, and three daughters. His second wife died on 21 April 1745, and on 13 June 1751 he married, thirdly, Catherine, second daughter of Sir Robert Furnese, bart., and widow of Lewis, second earl of Rockingham. This last marriage, and the size of the bride, caused much amusement at the time, and George Selwyn said that the weather being hot, she was kept in ice for three days before the wedding (Walpole, Letters, ii. 257). Guilford had no issue by his third wife, who died on 17 Dec. 1766. No record of any of his speeches is to be found in the ‘Parliamentary History.’ His correspondence with the Duke of Newcastle, 1734–62, is preserved among the Additional MSS. in the British Museum (32696–933 passim).
[Mrs. Delany's Autobiography, 1861–2, 1st and 2nd ser., containing several of Guilford's letters; Walpole's Letters, 1857–9, ii. 33, 163, 232, 244, 250, 347, 350, viii. 350; Walpole's Journal of the Reign of George III, 1859, i. 276–7; Auckland's Journal and Correspondence, 1861, ii. 369–70; Letters of the First Earl of Malmesbury, 1870, i. 311; Chatham Correspondence, 1840, iv. 334; Hasted's Hist. of Kent, 1799, iv. 190–1; Doyle's Official Baronage, 1886, ii. 87; Collins's Peerage of England, 1812, iv. 479–81; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1888, p. 1028; Historical Register, vol. xv. Chron. Diary, p. 64; Gent. Mag. 1766 p. 600, 1790 pt. ii. pp. 768, 789; Official Return of Lists of Members of Parliament, pt. ii. p. 65.]
NORTH, FREDERICK, second Earl of Guilford, better known as Lord North (1732–1792), only son of Francis, first earl of Guilford [q. v.], by his first wife, Lady Lucy Montagu, daughter of George, second earl of Halifax, was born in Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, on 13 April 1732. The Prince of Wales was his godfather, and North as a child was frequently at Leicester House, where, on 4 Jan. 1749, he took the part of Syphax in Addison's ‘Cato’ (Lady Hervey, Letters, 1821, pp. 147–8, n.) He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 12 Oct. 1749, and was created M.A. on 21 March 1750. After leaving the university he travelled for three years on the continent, in company with William, second earl of Dartmouth (Hist. MSS. Comm. 11th Rep. App. v. 330), and devoted some time under Mascove at Leipzig to the study of the German constitution (Correspondence of Geo. III with Lord North, vol. i. p. lxxxii). At the general election in April 1754 he was returned to the House of Commons for the family borough of Banbury, which he continued to represent until his succession to the peerage. Though his political views inclined to toryism, North acted at first as a follower of his kinsman the Duke of Newcastle, at whose recommendation he was appointed a junior lord of the treasury on 2 June 1759 (Chatham Correspondence, i. 409). He took a leading part in the proceedings against Wilkes in the House of Commons, and retired from office with the rest of his colleagues on the formation of the Rockingham ministry in July 1765. In May 1766 North declined the offer of a vice-treasurership of Ireland from Rockingham after considerable hesitation (Lord Albemarle, Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham, i. 345). On 19 Aug. 1766 he was appointed by Chatham joint-paymaster of the forces with George Cooke, and was admitted a member of the privy council on 10 Dec. following (London Gazette, 1766, Nos. 10651 and 10684). Henceforth North acted as a consistent advocate of the king's principles of government. In March 1767 Chatham, indignant with Charles Townshend's conduct with regard to the East India question, offered the post of chancellor of the exchequer and the leadership of the House of Commons to North, who refused it (Chatham Correspondence, iii. 235). Townshend, however, died on 4 Sept. following, and North, notwithstanding his dread of the persistent criticism of George Grenville (Lord John Russell, Memorials of Fox, i. 120), at length accepted the post. He thereupon resigned the paymastership of the forces, and was sworn in as chancellor of the exchequer on 7 Oct. 1767 (Walpole, Letters, v. 67, n.) Urged on by the king, and supported by steady majorities in the commons, North, as leader of the house, succeeded on 17 Feb. 1769 in having Wilkes declared incapable of sitting in parliament and in seating the ministerial candidate, Colonel Luttrell, in his place on 15 April following. North had a great contempt for popularity, and in a review of his own political career on 2 March 1769 he stated that he had never voted for any one of the popular measures of the last seven years, especially referring to his support of the cider tax and of the American Stamp Act, and to his opposition to Wilkes, to the reduction of the land tax, and to the Nullum Tempus Act (Cavendish, Parliamentary Debates, i. 299–300). On
