Born in England, Norton joined the Royal Navy in 1902. He kept a personal daily journal, with many maps, cartoons, illustrations, stamps and photographs of places he visited. He resigned from the Navy in 1911 and went to Australia and then New Zealand.

After working for the Australian Navy in Perth, Norton moved to Sydney and was employed by the Australian Shipping Line. From about 1929 until the mid-fifties, he made blocks and did illustrations for Sydney newspapers, including Smith’s Weekly, the Telegraph, the Sunday Sun and Guardian, the Sydney Mail and Pix magazine.