I.

Introduction

Lord North (1732-1792), British statesman, prime minister of Great Britain (1770-1782). Born Frederick North in London, he was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Oxford. In 1754 he was elected a member of the House of Commons for the family borough of Banbury, where he served for almost 40 years.

In 1759 he was appointed a lord of the treasury by the Duke of Newcastle, remaining in office under the Earl of Bute and George Grenville, whom he supported in the libel case against John Wilkes. In the ministry of William Pitt he was appointed to the Privy Council in 1766 and became Joint Paymaster of the Forces before succeeding Charles Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1767; three years later he succeeded the Duke of Grafton as prime minister. The appointment of Lord North brought an end to the political instability that had marked the 1760s. A childhood friend of George III, to whom he owed his position, he also enjoyed support from within Parliament due to his oratorical and financial competence.

II.

Loss of the American Colonies

Faced with a trade depression, caused in part by the American refusal to import any British goods following the imposition of the Townshend Duties, North repealed all except the tax on tea, but relations with the colonists remained uneasy following the Boston Massacre. The East India Company faced problems with the Americans continuing to refuse to import tea, and the passage of the Tea Act in 1783 led directly to the Boston Tea Party.

North’s ministry responded by imposing the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts; a year later fighting broke out at Lexington marking the start of the American War of Independence. North became an advocate of arranging an early peace, having offered to resign at least twice, after the battles of Saratoga in 1777 and when the French entered the war in 1778; by 1779 he no longer believed in the possibility of a British victory over the Americans, but was persuaded by the king to continue supporting the war.

III.

Domestic Affairs

North’s ministry was also troubled by domestic affairs. The Dublin parliament’s proposal for an Absentee Land Tax, supported by North but opposed by the opposition led by the Marquess of Rockingham, was another source of friction in a Parliament that was already split by support of the war. In 1780 London erupted following agitation by Lord George Gordon against the Catholic Relief Act of 1778 that allowed Catholics to serve in the army. In 1782, after the surrender of the British forces at Yorktown, North was allowed to resign, to be succeeded by Rockingham.

The following year North formed a coalition with the Duke of Portland and Charles James Fox, who had been in the Whig opposition to North's administration, and with whom he succeeded in overthrowing the ministry of William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne. However, the Portland ministry lasted barely six months. Thereafter, North was a member of the opposition to the ministry of William Pitt the Younger until his failing sight precipitated his retirement from active politics. North succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Guilford in 1790.