North, Frederick, 5th Earl of Guilford (1766 -1827)
Frederick North was the third and youngest son of Frederick, 2nd Earl and 8th Lord North, and Anne, daughter of George Speke. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated 18 October 1782, and was created a D.C.L. 5 July 1793. He was appointed Chamberlain of the Exchequer 13 December 1779, a sinecure which he held until 10 October 1826. At Oxford he became an accomplished Greek scholar and a philhellene. He travelled in Spain and Greece, acquiring a competent knowledge of vernacular Greek, and was received into the Greek Orthodox Church in Corfu on 23 January 1791. On the succession of his elder brother to the Earldom in 1792, he succeeded him in his seat in the Commons for the pocket borough of Banbury, but vacated the seat on being appointed Comptroller of the Customs for the Port of London in 1794. During the British occupation of Corsica, he was secretary to the Viceroy, Sir Gilbert Elliot, and in 1798 was appointed Governor of Ceylon. He succeeded his brother as 5th Earl of Guilford in 1817. He was Chancellor of the University of the Ionian Islands and Knight Grand Cross of the Ionian Order. Lord Guilford collected a large library, chiefly in Italy, which was left to the Ionian University, but recovered by his executors, in consequence of the failure of the University to comply with the terms of the bequest, and sold in London during the years 1828 to 1835. Some manuscripts from his collection, together with the catalogue are preserved in the British Library Add. MSS 8220, 20016 7, 20036 7, and 27430 1. He never married and the title passed at his death to his cousin, Francis, eldest son of Brownlow, second son of the 1st Earl.