Roger North

Roger North was an English lawyer, biographer, and amateur musician.

North was the sixth son of Dudley North, 4th Baron North and his wife Anne Montagu and was the brother of Francis North and Dudley North. He was born in Tostock, Suffolk. He attended Bury St Edmunds Grammar School and then Thetford Grammar School from 1663, followed by Jesus College, Cambridge and the Middle Temple. He was called to the bar in 1674, and was Steward of the Diocese of Canterbury in 1678. He became King's Counsel and a Bencher of Middle Temple in 1682.

North 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), an 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, pedagogy, and 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. Another well-known work is Examen, a defence of Charles II's record as a ruler. He was also a learned connoisseur of architecture and designed a new gateway for the Middle Temple in London and a Palladian extension to his house at Rougham.

North married Mary, the daughter of Sir Robert Gayer of Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire and his first wife Mary Rich, daughter of Sir Thomas Rich, 1st Baronet, with whom he had two sons and five daughters. Notable descendants include Marianne North, the botanical illustrator, and Frederick North, a Liberal politician.