William North 1678-1734

William NORTH, 6th Baron North and 2nd Baron Grey 1678-1734

Biographical Note

Born at Caldecote, Cambridgeshire, eldest son of Charles, 5th Baron North and Katharine (Grey). Privately tutored with his siblings, under the guardianship of their uncle Roger North following his father's death. Succeeded as 6th Baron in 1690, taking his seat in the Lords in 1699 as Baron Grey of Rolleston (and usually known as ‘Lord North and Grey’). Admitted to Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1691 but did not graduate. Attended Foubert’s academy, London, and became an army captain in 1702, rising to Colonel of the 10th Foot and in 1710 lieutenant-general. Lord-lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, 1711-15. Privy counsellor. Governor of Portsmouth 1711-14. Elected FRS in 1720. Involved in plotting to restore the Pretender (receiving the Jacobite title Earl North), and lived in exile after 1723 in the Low Countries and Spain, commanding Spanish troops around Barcelona. Married Maria Margaretta de Jong.

Books

He used engraved armorial bookplates dated 1703: Franks 22013 (‘The Right Honble. William Lord, North, of Carthlage and Baron Grey of Rolleston’); *94 (another impression); 22014 (smaller plate without the Grey quartering). It is not clear if Franks 2020 (‘the Honble. North, Esqr. 17—’) was his too; another possible owner was his brother Charles.

Examples containing his bookplate: Cambridge University Library, RCS.Case.d.112; Folger Shakespeare Library, MS V.b.132; King’s College Cambridge, D.2.3; St Edmund Hall Oxford, f.6.5; Yale Center for British Art, DH33.G9 D47 1581.

Sources

• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903-4.
• Smith, L. B. ‘North, William, sixth Baron North, second Baron Grey of Rolleston, and Jacobite Earl North (1678–1734), army officer and Jacobite conspirator.’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.