Roger North KC
North, 1680 portrait afterPeter Lely
Born	(1653-09-03)3 September 1653 Tostock,Suffolk, England
Died	1 March 1734(1734-03-01) (aged 80) Rougham, Norfolk, England
Occupations	Lawyer, biographer

Roger North,KC (3 September 1653^[1] – 1 March 1734) was an Englishlawyer,biographer, and amateur musician.

North was the sixth son ofDudley North, 4th Baron North, and his wife Anne Montagu and was the brother ofFrancis North,Elizabeth (became) Wiseman andDudley North. He was born inTostock,Suffolk. He attendedBury St Edmunds Grammar School and thenThetford Grammar School from 1663,^[2] followed byJesus College, Cambridge, and theMiddle Temple. He wascalled to the bar in 1674, and was Steward of theDiocese of Canterbury in 1678. He becameKing's Counsel and a Bencher of Middle Temple in 1682.^[3]

North developed a good practice at the bar, helped by his elder brother Francis who becameLord Chancellor.Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, called him "one of only two honest lawyers I ever knew".^[4] During thePopish Plot, while Francis succumbed to the prevailing anti-Catholic hysteria, Roger remained detached and sceptical. Although he was always loyal to his brother's memory, Roger admitted that during the Plot "wise men behaved like stark fools". In 1684 he becameSolicitor-General to theDuke of York.^[5] After this his career suffered something of a check: Francis' unexpected early death in September 1685 was both a personal loss and a blow to Roger's career, since Francis was replaced as Lord Chancellor by the formidableLord Jeffreys. Roger, who left a scarifying picture of Jeffreys in his memoirs, was a rather shy and diffident man, and frankly admitted to being terrified of Jeffreys; as a result, in his own words, his practice "declined so as to be scarce worth attending Court".^[6] The check was only temporary: in 1685, he was chosen as aToryMember of Parliament forDunwich, and becameRecorder ofBristol. He was further advanced in 1686 to the office ofAttorney General to QueenMary of Modena.^[5] In 1686 his sisterElizabeth Wiseman was involved in a dispute. She was a rich widow and their brother Charles North had tried to marry her off to his chosen candidate, Robert Spencer. Elizabeth asked for help and three of her brothers including Roger came to her aid. This case is very well documented as Roger gathered together all the letters. There was a case at theCourt of Arches and Robert and Charles were required to recant their version of the events.^[7]

TheGlorious Revolution stopped his advancement, and he retired to his estate ofRougham in Norfolk and increased his fortune by marrying the daughter of Sir Robert Gayer.^[8]

North died at Rougham on 1 March 1734, leaving a family from whom the Norths of Rougham were descended.^[5]

North collected books, and was constantly occupied in writing, but he is best known for hisLives of the Norths, published after his death, together with his own autobiography (edition inBohn's Standard Library, 1890, byAugustus Jessopp), an authority for the period. His comments on musical performance practice, in particular, have proven helpful formusicologists researching theBaroque style in England. In addition to his writing on performance practice, he wrote on musicalaesthetics, pedagogy, andtuning and temperament; one of his most important achievements in this regard was devising a practical and detailed system formean-tone tuning in the age beforeequal temperament. Another well-known work isExamen, a defence ofCharles II's record as a ruler. He was also a learned connoisseur of architecture and designed a new gateway for theMiddle Temple in London and a Palladian extension to his house at Rougham.^[9]

North married Mary, the daughter of Sir Robert Gayer ofStoke Poges,Buckinghamshire and his first wife Mary Rich, daughter ofSir Thomas Rich, 1st Baronet, with whom he had two sons and five daughters.^[8] Notable descendants includeMarianne North, the botanical illustrator, andFrederick North, a Liberal politician.

• "NORTH, Hon. Roger (1653–1734), of the Middle Temple and Rougham, Norf". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved9 August 2012.
• Roger North's The Musicall Grammarian and Theory of Sounds: digests of the manuscripts, edited by M. Chan and J. C. Kassler, University of New South Wales, Kensington, 1988.
• Roger North's the Musicall Grammarian: 1728, edited with introductions and notes by Mary Chan and Jamie C. Kassler, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990.
• J. C. Kassler,The Honourable Roger North, 1651–1734: On life, morality, law and tradition, Ashgate, Burlington, Vermont, 2009.
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911)."North, Roger" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 759.

• Works by Roger North atLibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

• 1653 births
• 1734 deaths
• English barristers
• English King's Counsel
• English MPs 1685–1687
• Tory MPs (pre-1834)
• Younger sons of barons
• 17th-century King's Counsel
• People educated at Thetford Grammar School
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• 17th-century English musicians
• 17th-century English lawyers
• 18th-century English musicians
• 18th-century English lawyers
• 17th-century English biographers
• 18th-century English biographers
• People from Norfolk
• 17th-century English writers
• 18th-century English writers
• Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Dunwich
• British philosophers of art

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