Thomas Norton

NORTON, Thomas. b. London, ca 1530-1532; d. 10 March 1584. Born into a Bedfordshire family, he was educated at Michaelhouse (part of Trinity College after 1546), Cambridge. He became a tutor, ca. 1550, to the protestant family of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset (Lord Protector during the early part of the reign of Edward VI, but executed in 1551). Norton was a firm and moderate Protestant throughout this turbulent period: he married Margaret, the daughter of Thomas Cranmer, ca. 1556. He entered the Inner Temple in 1555 and was called to the bar in 1563. Meanwhile he became a member of parliament for Gatton, Roxburghshire, 1558, and then for Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1563. He became a prominent...