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. He is most notable for having led Great Britain during the time of The American Revolution, which he failed to avert. Notable for finding the business of politics a strain and falling asleep in meetings of parliament, he probably got the job because he was a childhood friend of King George III.
Guilford County, North Carolina is named after 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.
He was a skilled politician, if a somewhat unprincipled one - later on he would form an alliance of convenience with his ideological foe, the radical MP Charles James Fox. However, all he is remembered for is his lack of success in the American war. His paintings indicate he bore a spooky resemblance to modern political correspondent John Sergeant.
In modern British politics, it's a popular cliché to refer to a despised prime minister as, "the worst prime minister since Lord North."
In Fiction
- He appears in an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, played by Terry Jones.
- Lord North is a character in the 1978 TV Movie The Bastard, played by John Colicos.
- In the 1942 biopic The Young Mr Pitt, he is played by Felix Aylmer.
- In the TV series Number 10, he appears in one 1983 episode, played by Patrick Newell.
- In the TV series Play for Today, he appears in the episode "The Falklands Factor", played by John Bird.
- In the 2006 TV series The Revolution, he is played by Nicholas Barber.
- In the 1924 movie America, he is played by Emil Hoch.
- He appears in the OverSimplified videos on the American Revolution, albeit identified only by onscreen text in his first appearance. He's essentially played as a Straight Man to the caricatured George III.
