The son of George North, citizen and pewterer, who resided in or near Aldersgate Street in London, he was educated at St Paul's School.
In 1750 he made a tour in the west of England, visiting Dorchester, Wilton, and Stonehenge, but from this time suffered from illness.
[2] Around 1751 North, with George Vertue and Ducarel, was one of the leaders of resistance in the Society of Antiquaries to the perceived ambitions of Martin Folkes.
In 1752 he published Remarks on some Conjectures (London), in answer to a paper by Charles Clarke on a coin found at Eltham.
[6] Among North's books was his manuscript account of Saxon and English coins, with drawings by Edward Hodsol.
It later came into the possession of Rogers Ruding, with two plates engraved by North to accompany a dissertation (not completed) on the coins of Henry III.
North also compiled A Table of English Silver Coins from the Conquest to the Commonwealth, with Remarks: a transcript by Andrew Gifford was in 1780 in the collection of Mark Cephas Tutet.