Anne North, Countess of Guilford (née Speke; 1740 – 17 January 1797) was an English woman of the 18th century, best known as the the wife of Frederick, Lord North, who was Prime Minister of Great Britain between 1770 and 1782. During his term in office, she was known as Lady North; she became Countess of Guilford when her father-in-law died in 1790.
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The Countess of Guilford
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Portrait of Lady North by Catherine Read[1]
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| Born | Anne Speke c. 1740
Ilminster, Somerset, Great Britain
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| Died | 17 January 1797 (1797-01-18) (aged 61)
Bushy House, London, Great Britain
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| Nationality | English |
| Known for | Wife of the Prime Minister 1770–82 |
| Spouse |
(m. 1756; died 1792) |
| Children | 7, including George North, 3rd Earl of Guilford, Francis North, 4th Earl of Guilford and Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford |
| Parents |
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Anne was born around 1739–1741 in Ilminster, Somerset, to George Speke MP and his third wife Anne (née Williams). Her father died in 1753, when Anne was about 12 years old, and she inherited the former Drake estates in Devonshire, as well as Dillington House.[2][3][4]
On 20 May 1756, aged about sixteen,[5] Anne married Frederick, Lord North, who was the eldest son of Lord Guilford and was then the MP for Banbury. He was about eight years her senior.
She gave birth to their first child, George Augustus, on 11 September 1757. A daughter, Catherine Anne, followed in 1760, and another son, Francis, in 1761, and a second daughter, Charlotte. In 1766 Lord North became Paymaster of the Forces and Anne gave birth to their third son, Frederick. Lord North became Chancellor of the Exchequer the following year, serving in that post until 1782.
Lord and Lady North had seven children:
In 1770 Lord North became First Lord of the Treasury (Prime Minister of Great Britain) and formed a government that was mostly Tories. His government saw the American Revolutionary War, which meant that Britain lost most of its North American colonies. Lord North was forced from office by a motion of no confidence in 1782, following defeat at the Battle of Yorktown.
In 1786 she met with Abigail Adams (wife of John Adams, then US Ambassador to Great Britain) in London, and Abigail wrote an unflattering description of Lady North and her daughter Anne in a letter to Lucy Cranch:
I cannot close without describing to you Lady North and her daughter. She is as large as Captain Clarks wife and much such a made woman, with a much fuller face, of the coulour and complexion of mrs cook who formerly lived with your uncle Palmer, and looks as if Porter and Beaf stood no chance before her. Add to this, that it is coverd with large red pimples over which to help the natural redness, a coat of Rouge is spread, and to assist her shape, she was drest in white sattin trimd with Scarlet ribbon. Miss North is not so large nor quite So red, but a very small Eye with the most impudent face you can possibly form an Idea of, joined to manners so Masculine that I was obliged frequently to recollect that line of Dr Youngs— “Believe her dress; shes not a Grenidier” to persuade myself that I was not mistaken.[8]
Lord North began to go blind in 1786,[9] and retired from active politics in 1790, in which year he was made Earl of Guilford, making Anne a countess.[10] Visiting the North family in 1787, Horace Walpole said that he "never saw a more interesting scene. Lord North's spirits, good humour, wit, sense, drollery, are as perfect as ever—the unremitting attention of Lady North and his children most touching. … If ever loss of sight could be compensated, it is by so affectionate a family."[11] Lord North died in 1792.[12]
The Countess of Guilford died in 1797 in Bushy House, Teddington, London, and was buried in Wroxton.[13]