Frederick North
Frederick North was a Whig and later Tory politician and member of the Parliament in Great Britain.
Contents
History
Frederick North was the eldest son of Francis North, earl of Guilford. Frederick would only outlive his father by two years, so for effectively all of his life he was addressed only with a courtesy title of Lord North.
North was elected to Parliament in 1754. He was appointed to the Treasury in 1759 and resigned when Watson-Wentworth came to power. While he stood for elections as a Whig, he evidently found more common ground with Patriot Whigs (like Pitt's government) and Tories (like Stuart's government).
North returned to government in 1766 and emerged as a successor to Pitt and FitzRoy. When FitzRoy resigned in 1770, North formed a Tory government.
Following the Battle of Yorktown, North lost a vote of no confidence and resigned.
Watson-Wentworth succeeded North in forming a government, but died just months later. Fox refused to continue under Petty, so he formed a coalition with North and forced a government onto George III.
While the coalition would disintegrate within a year, neither could the minority Pitt government effectively govern, until new elections in 1784 handed him a solid majority.
His father died in 1790, leaving North to finally inherit his titles and seat in the House of Lords. He himself died two years later.
Policies
North's first government was marked by expansionism and militarism. Within the first year, the Falklands Crisis forced a mobilization of the Royal Navy. This was in the context of French conquest of Corsica just two years earlier. Charles III of Spain invaded and occupied the Falklands, but was forced to withdraw.
The American Revolutionary War then occupied North's attention up to his downfall.