Roger North

Roger North, KC (3 September 16531 March 1734) was an English lawyer, biographer, and amateur musician. Life North was the sixth son of Dudley North, 4th Baron North and his wife Anne Montagu and was the brother of Francis North, Elizabeth (became) Wiseman 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 developed a good practice at the bar, helped by his elder brother Francis who became Lord Chancellor. Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon called him "one of only two honest lawyers I ever knew". During the Popish 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 became Solicitor-General to the Duke of York. 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 formidable Lord 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". The check was only temporary: in 1685, he was chosen as a Tory Member of Parliament for Dunwich, and became Recorder of Bristol. He was further advanced in 1686 to the office of Attorney General to Queen Mary of Modena. In 1686 his sister Elizabeth 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 the Court of Arches and Robert and Charles were required toi recant their version of the events.