The administration of the English statesman Frederick North, 2d Earl of Guildford and 8th Baron North (1732-1792), is associated with Britain's loss of the American colonies.

Frederick North was born in London on April 13, 1732. He was educated at Eton and Oxford and after leaving the university traveled for 3 years in Europe. In 1756 he married Anne Speke, the daughter of a Somerset squire, by whom he had seven children.

At the first general election (1754) after he came of age, North entered Parliament. Diffidence rather than ambition marked his early career. Between 1759 and 1767 he occupied a series of state offices without making himself particularly conspicuous. In 1768 he became leader of the Commons and quickly won the respect of the House.

Horace Walpole described North about this time: "Nothing could be more coarse or clumsy or ungracious than his outside. Two large prominent eyes that rolled about to no purpose ... a...