(b Tostock, Suffolk, Sept 3, 1653; d Rougham, Norfolk, March 1, 1734). English architect, lawyer and writer. He was the youngest son of Dudley, 4th Lord North, and, following his training as a lawyer, became King’s Counsel and a Bencher of the Middle Temple. Under James II he was appointed Attorney-General to the Queen and was also elected MP for Dunwich. With the change of dynasty in 1688, his professional and political prospects were shattered, and, after refusing to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary, he retired to the country, buying an estate at Rougham in west Norfolk in 1691. During a long retirement he marshalled on paper his strong opinions on a wide range of subjects (most notably music), in addition to writing his own autobiography and biographies of his three eminent brothers. North’s architectural interests developed relatively early, stimulated first by the fire that destroyed the Temple (London) in 1679. The need to negotiate effectively with its ruthless developer, ...