1783

Charles James Fox (1749-1806). The son of an indulgent father, Fox early established a reputation for fast living, but was also seen very early as of exceptional ability. He was elected to Parliament at the age of nineteen, and was soon appointed to ministerial office; but a series of quixotic resignations alienated the King, and cast doubts on his judgement. Drifting away from an early association with the government of Lord North, he became the darling of the radicals and strongly supported the cause of American independence. On the eventual demise of North's government in 1782, he became Foreign Secretary and the leading Commons member of the government nominally led by the Marquess of Rockingham. Rockingham's death caused its collapse, and Fox opposed the peace plans of its successor under the Earl of Shelburne; when that, in turn, fell at the end of 1782, Fox and his old sparring partner, North, joined in an administration which the King conspired to destroy, creating an opportunity for his young protégé, the wunderkind William Pitt the younger, to begin his dominance of politics for the next twenty years. Fox did return to office briefly in 1806, as Foreign Secretary in the 'ministry of all the talents' led by Lord Grenville, but died only a few months later.

Jointly with

Frederick North, Lord North (1732-1792) made his name in the House of Commons through the leading role he took in the condemnation and expulsion from the House of Commons of the radical John Wilkes in 1763-65. On Charles Townshend's death Pitt appointed him Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he shortly established himself as the Leader of the House. His struggle against Wilkes's continued efforts to get back into the Commons won him the admiration of George III, and on the resignation of the Duke of Grafton as premier in 1770, the King appointed him in his place. His premiership was overshadowed by the American revolution: as the war in America went badly, North pleaded with the King to be allowed to give up his office; when he finally resigned in 1782, the King took it as a personal betrayal. He returned to office, briefly in 1783-84, in coalition with his old opponent Charles James Fox; but the King quickly engineered the collapse of the odd partnership, and its replacement by the rising star, William Pit the younger.