Roger North

Born in Suffolk in 1653, Roger North was educated at Bury St Edmunds and Thetford before studying at Jesus College, Cambridge. He went on to a legal career and became known as a capable lawyer, but his lasting reputation comes from his writing.

North is best remembered for biographies of his brothers Francis, Dudley, and John, as well as for autobiographical and historical works that give readers a rich picture of English life in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. His books are useful to historians, but they are also engaging because he noticed everyday details, personalities, and the feel of the world around him.

He also had a serious interest in music and wrote about it with unusual care, which makes him important not only in legal and historical circles but in the history of music as well. He died in 1734, leaving a body of work that continues to attract readers interested in law, biography, and the culture of his time.