Edward Felix Norton (21 February 1884 – 3 November 1954) was a British army officer and mountaineer.

Early life

He attended

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

and the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

, and then joined artillery units in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He had been introduced to mountain climbing at the home in the Alps of his grandfather,

Alfred Wills Sir Alfred Wills (11 December 1828 – 9 August 1912) was a judge of the High Court of England and Wales and a well-known mountaineer. He was the third President of the Alpine Club, from 1863 to 1865. Early life Wills was the second son of Wi ...

Career

Mountaineering

His experience led to his taking part in the British 1922 Everest and 1924 Everest expeditions, reaching high elevations both years. His height of —reached without using oxygen on the Great Couloir route—was a world altitude record which stood for nearly 30 years, only being surpassed during the unsuccessful Swiss expedition of 1952. In 1924, he took over leadership of the expedition when General

Charles Granville Bruce Brigadier-General The Honourable Charles Granville Bruce, CB, MVO (7 April 1866 – 12 July 1939) was a veteran Himalayan mountaineer and leader of the second and third British expeditions to Mount Everest in 1922 and 1924. In recognition of t ...

fell ill, and Norton was praised for handling affairs in the aftermath of the disappearance of

George Mallory George Herbert Leigh Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 or 9 June 1924) was an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s. Born in Cheshire, Mallory became a student at Winchester ...

and Andrew Irvine.

Military career

He served at Staff Colleges in India and England, and commanded the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

and later the Madras District in the 1930s. From 1940 to 1941, he was

acting governor An acting governor is a person who acts in the role of governor. In Commonwealth jurisdictions where the governor is a vice-regal position, the role of "acting governor" may be filled by a lieutenant governor (as in most Australian states) or an ...

and then Commander-in-Chief of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. He retired in 1942, after a near fatal riding accident.

Later years

From 1952 until 1953, he advised John Hunt that previous Everest assault camps had been too low, and in 1953 it should be on or very close under the Southern Summit.

References

Footnotes

Major Work

Mountaineering

*''The Fight for Everest 1924'' (1925) Published by Longmans, Green (1925)

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Edward F. 1884 births 1954 deaths British Army generals of World War II British Army lieutenant generals British Army personnel of World War I British mountain climbers Companions of the Distinguished Service Order English mountain climbers Governors of Hong Kong Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich People educated at Charterhouse School Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Artillery officers