He lived for a while with his great uncle Frederick on Corfu, and fought with Dom Pedro's army in Portugal, before eventually settling in Scotland.

[3] North lived a life of pleasure, being fond of hunting and gambling, broken only by a period at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, when he considered taking holy orders.

North experienced a religious conversion in November 1854, and began to attend Elgin Free Church.

[4] Moody-Stuart suggests that he gained in this an "express recognition" for lay-effort "such as it had not obtained since the period immediately succeeding the Reformation.

[6] Rabbi Duncan once remarked on seeing a photograph of him, "There is intellect in the brow, genius in the eye, and eloquence in the mouth.