Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford GCMG FRS

Born the Honourable Frederick North on 7 Feb 1766, the son of Prime Minister Lord North (the 2nd Earl of Guilford). He was educated at Eton and Christ Church Oxford. In 1791 he converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church. He was MP for Banbury in 1792 and was appointed the first British Governor of Ceylon in 1798. He governed until 1805, during which time he was criticised for his failed attempts to subdue the Kingdom of Kandy. He built his official residence, the Doric Bungalow near the Mannar Sea and gained wealth from organising pearl fishing. He declared himself head of the Salgama Caste. In 1817 he succeeded his elder brother to become 5th Earl of Guilford. In 1824 he was in Corfu where he established the Ionian Academy, the first modern Greek academic institution where philology, law and medicine could be studied. There is a statue of him in Corfu. He did not marry and he died on 14 Oct 1827.

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