Roger North, KC (3 September 1651[1] – 1 March 1734) was an English lawyer, biographer, and amateur musician.
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He was the sixth son of Dudley North, 4th Baron North, and attended Thetford Grammar School from 1663[2] He later acquired a good practice at the bar, helped by his elder brother Francis North, who became lord chancellor. In 1684 he became Solicitor-General to the Duke of York. In 1685, he was chosen as a Tory Member of Parliament for Dunwich. But the Glorious Revolution stopped his advancement, and he retired to his estate of Rougham in Norfolk, and increased his fortune by marrying the daughter of Sir Robert Gayer.
He died at Rougham on 1 March 1734, leaving a family from whom the Norths of Rougham were descended.
He collected books, and was constantly occupied in writing. But he is best known for his Lives of the Norths, published after his death, together with his own autobiography (edition in Bohn's Standard Library, 1890, by Augustus Jessopp), a n authority for the period. His comments on musical performance practice, in particular, have proven helpful for musicologists researching the Baroque style in England. In addition to his writing on performance practice he wrote on musical aesthetics, on pedagogy, and on tuning and temperament; one of his most important achievements in this regard was devising a practical and detailed system for mean-tone tuning in the age before equal temperament.
Notable descendants include Marianne North, the botanical illustrator, and Frederick North, a Liberal politician.
| Parliament of England | ||
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| Preceded by Sir Philip Skippon Sir Robert Kemp, Bt |
Member of Parliament for Dunwich with Thomas Knyvett 1685–1689 |
Succeeded by Sir Philip Skippon Sir Robert Rich, Bt |