He sailed to make his fortune and he did!
A man who travelled to Australia to try his luck and who was lucky indeed! JAMES NORTON (ESQ) James was born in Hastings Sussex England on the 27 July 1795 the third son of John Norton and his wife Mary (nee Bradford). He received a legal education and was admitted to practice as an attorney and thus was known as Esquire. He sailed as Captain’s Clerk in the “Maria” that arrived in Sydney in September 1818 with the aim of making his fortune as a lawyer – at the time only four other solicitors were practicing in the town. His father, a brother and three sisters followed him to Sydney the following year and the family received a large grant of land in the Mulgoa district on the Nepean River. James also was granted a separate land title that he farmed. His youngest sister, Emma, married the explorer John Oxley in August 1822. In the meantime, his legal practice flourished and in 1826 he created Australia’s first law firm when he took William Barker into partnership. Ja...