Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 4.djvu/121

 GUILFORD. 123 III. 1729 1 and 3. Francis (North), Baron Guilford, lsts. ami ■p i, Is., by Brat wife, //. 13 April 1704; mat. at Oxford (Tim Coll.), £5 March 1721 ; H.P. for Banbury, 1727-29; me. his father in the III. 1752. Barony of Guilford, 1729, ami took iiis scat as Lord Guilford, 13 Jan. i 729. lie sin: his cousin William (North), Lord North de Kirtling and Grey de Rolleston on 31 Oct. 1734, as LORD NORTH DE KIRTLING (a Barony cr. in 1551) by which title lie was afterwards known till his elevation to the Earldom. He was sum. to the Pari, of Jan. 1754 as Lord North of North ami Guilford. He was a Lord of the Bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales, 1730 to 1751, and was Governor to George, Prince of Wales, from 1750 to 1751. He was or., 8 April 1752, EARL OF Gl.'lLKORD, taking his seat 11 Jan. 1753 ; Treasurer to the Queen Consort, 1773. Hem. firstly, 16 June 1723, at Bushey.Mids., Lucy, da. of George (Montagu), 1st E.uti, or Halifax, and his only child by his lirst wife, Ricarda Pusthuma, da. and h. of Richard Sai.tonstall, of Wardou, co. NortUamp- tou.(") She d. 7 May 1731, in London, and was bur. the 15th at Wroxtou, aged 25. He )«. secondly, 24 Jan. 1735, 0, in London (rag. at Wroxtou) Elizabeth, widow of George Leuge, sli/lc l VlSCOUNt Lewisuam, da. and h. of Sir Arthur Kaye, 3d Bart., of Woodsome, co. York, by Anne, da. and coheir of Sir Samu A M.vuowe, Bart. Lady North and Guilford d. in Loudon 21 April 1745, aged 3S. and was bur. 1 May at Wroxtou. Adinon. 21 May 1715. He m. thirdly, 13 June 1751, at St. Anne's, Soho Midx., Catherine, Dow. Countess of Rockinuuam, sister and coheir (1735) to Sir Henry FcJUfESS, 3d and last Bart, da. of Sir Robert F, 2d Bart., by his second wife, Arabella, da. of Lewis (Watson), 1st Eaul OF Rockingham. She d. s.p. Dec. 1770 and was bur. at Wroxtou. ( l >) Will pr. Jan. 1707. The Earl d. in Loudon, 4 Aug. 17'.»0, aged SO, and was bur. 18th at Wroxtou. Will dat. 9 April 1779, pr., with 10 codicils, 13 Aug. 1790. IV. 1790. $ sad .'/. Frederick (North), Earl of Guilford, Loud Noutii DE Kiutlisg, and Baron Guilford, 1st s. and h. by first wife ; 4. 13 April 1732, and bap. iu Loudon (reg. at Wroxtou) ; ed. at Eton and Trin. Coll., Oxford ; matric, 12 Oct. 1749; a: M.A., 21 March 1750; styled (and well known for nearly 40 years as) Lord North, 1752-90 ; M.P, for Banbury, 1754-90 ; a Lord of the Treasury, 1759-65 ; P.C. and Joint Paymaster Gen., 1706 ; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1767, and finally First Lord of the Treasury [Prime Minister] from Jan. 1770 to March 17S2. ( u ) He was a: LL.D. of Cambridge, 3 July 1769, and D.C'.L. of Oxford, 10 Oct. 1772, being iu the same month el. Chancellor of the Univ. of Oxford ; K.G.,(l ) IS June 1772 ; Lord Lieut, of Somerset, 1774 ; F.S.A., 1776; Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, 1778, &c. In 17S3 within a year of his retirement from ollice, he joined his former opponent, ( c ) Charles Fox, aud under the Portland Ministry was Home Secretary from April to Dec. 1783. Iu Aug. 1790 he sue. his father (for two years only) in the peerage (being then almost blind), taking his seat, 25 Nov. 1 790.( f J He m., 20 May 1756, at St. James's, Westm., Anne, da. and (a) The estate of Warden was possessed by her son aud grandsons the 2d, 3d, 4th, aud 5th Earls. ( b ) She brought into the North family the estate of Waldershare, near Dover, co. Kent, computed at above £'5,000 a year. {") The war w ith America (persevered in by the wish of the King) was the great feature of what Gibbon (iu the preface to the 7th vol. of his " Decline and Fall ") calls this " long, stormy, and at length unfortunate administration." He adds that tho' Lord North had during its long continuance "had many political opponents" yet (such was his genial nature) he was "almost without a personal enemy." ( d ) He was continually alluded to in the House of Commons (by Fox and others) as " the noble Lord with the blue ribbon." (°) The probable reasons for this conduct, which entirely lost him the Court favour, are well discussed by Sir N iVraxiiU iu his " Memoirs," where will be found a very interesting account of this Ministry (') The want of vigour, love of ease, and an over readiuess to adopt the suggestions of others, wore the blots on a character distinguished for talents, wit, experience, aud good nature. See vol. i, p. 352, note " a," sub " Besshorough," as to Lord North's partiality (iu 1783) to " a festive board."