Frederick North becomes Chancellor of the Exchequer
- When
- 1767–1768
- Where
- death of Charles Townshend; British government appointment; British House of Commons leadership
- Episodes
- 3
Frederick North, Lord North, succeeded the recently deceased Charles Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1767, a step in his rise under Pitt's second ministry that preceded his later leadership of the Commons.
Episodes
- Townshend's Death Creates the Vacancy
Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer since August 1766, died suddenly of a fever on 4 September 1767.
- North Succeeds Townshend as Chancellor
Frederick North, Lord North, became Chancellor of the Exchequer in December 1767, succeeding the deceased Charles Townshend.
- North Adds Leadership of the Commons
After Henry Seymour Conway resigned as secretary of state in early 1768, North became Leader of the House of Commons as well.
Background and detail
Background. Charles Townshend had accepted the Chancellorship of the Exchequer in August 1766 under William Pitt the Elder, and in early 1767 proposed raising American revenue through external import taxes. He died suddenly of a fever on 4 September 1767, leaving the office vacant.
North's Path to Office. Frederick North, styled Lord North, had left office when Rockingham's Whig government came to power in 1765 and served as a backbench MP. He returned to office when Pitt headed a second government in 1766, and by the time he became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1767 had developed strong Tory sympathies despite earlier Whig alignment.
Succession and Aftermath. North succeeded Charles Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer in December 1767. The following year, after Henry Seymour Conway resigned as secretary of state in early 1768, North additionally became Leader of the House of Commons.
People involved
- Frederick North, Lord North · Incoming Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Charles Townshend · Outgoing Chancellor of the Exchequer, whose death prompted the appointment
Sources
- Frederick North, Lord North Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29
- Charles Townshend Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-25
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.