Author: North, Francis
Biography:
NORTH, Francis (1761-1817: ODNB)
He was born on 25 Dec. 1761 and baptised at St. George’s, Hanover Square, London, on 22 Jan. 1762, the second son of Frederick North (1732-92) and Anne Speke (1739-97), who had married on 20 May 1756. His father, an MP, eventually became Prime Minister (1770-82) and at the end of his life succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Guilford, only then inheriting a fortune and the family seat at Wroxton Abbey, Oxfordshire. Francis chose a military career after an Eton education. He joined the army as Cornet in 1777, was promoted to Major in 1783, and after a final promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1794 took retirement. His only known publication, The Kentish Barons of 1791, is a feeble historical drama in blank verse and prose; it was performed at the Haymarket in London without great success. In 1802 he succeeded his brother George and became the 4th Earl. On 10 July 1810 he married Maria Boycott (d 1821) at Wroxton. They had no children. He died abroad, at Pisa, Italy, on 28 (not 11) Jan. 1817, and was buried not at Wroxton but in the English Cemetery at Leghorn (Livorno), on 30 Jan. according to the Italian record. (ODNB [under “North, Frederick, 1732-92”] 5 Mar. 2024; ancestry.com 5 Mar. 2024; findmypast.com 5 Mar. 2024; GM Feb. 1817, 181) HJ