>BrownHairedGirl at 22:21, 5 May 2021

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{{EngvarB|date=May 2014}}
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{{Infobox person
|name = Eardley Norton
|image = Eardley Norton.jpg
|caption = Photograph of Eardley Norton
|birth_name = Eardley John Norton
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1852|2|19|df=yes}}
|birth_place = Madras Presidency, India
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1931|7|13|1852|2|19|df=yes}}
|death_place = Bexley, Kent, England
|other_names =
|known_for =
|occupation =
|nationality = United Kingdom
}}

'''Eardley John Norton''' (19 February 1852 – 13 July 1931) was a [[Madras]] [[barrister]], Coroner and politician of British origin. He was also one of the earliest members of the [[Indian National Congress]] and a champion of civil liberties and rights of the Indian people.

== Early life ==

Eardley was born in India in 1852, the eldest son of lawyer [[John Bruce Norton]], who had served as Advocate-General of Madras. He received his education in Rugby School, England.<ref name="indian_review">{{cite book|title=The Indian Review|publisher=[[G. A. Natesan|G. A. Natesan & Co.]]|pages=531| year=1931}}</ref><ref name="indian_national">{{cite book|title=Indian National Movement: The Role of British Liberals|first=Harish|last=P. Kaushik|publisher=Criterion Publications|pages=114|year=1996}}</ref> He matriculated on 15 October 1870 at the age of 18 and graduated in arts from [[Merton College]], [[Oxford University|Oxford]].<ref name="oxoniensesp1030">{{alox2|title=Norton, John Eardley}}</ref> He read law at Lincoln's Inn and was called to bar in 1876.<ref name="oxoniensesp1030" /> In 1879, he set sail to India to practice in the [[Madras High Court]].<ref name="indian_review" />

== Practice in Madras ==

Eardley Norton practised as a lawyer in Madras from 1879 to 1906.<ref name="indian_review" /><ref name="madraslawtimesp82">{{cite book|title=The Madras Law Times: Law Notes and Notes of Cases of the Madras High Court and of the English Law Courts By Judicial Committee, Burma, High Court of Judicature, High Court, India, Great Britain, Privy Council|pages=82|publisher=Madras Law Times Office|year=1907}}</ref> Norton was elected to the [[Imperial Legislative Council (India)]] in 1894 but had to resign within a month due to an adultery suit against him.<ref name="thehindu_norton1">{{cite news|title=Looking back: Willing to strike and not reluctant to wound|author=S. Muthiah|author-link=S. Muthiah|url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/th125/stories/2003091300770200.htm|date=13 September 2003|work=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref>

In 1897, a furor was raised over the appointment of a lawyer [[V. Bhashyam Aiyangar]] as Advocate-General of the Presidency.<ref name="presidency_judiciary_p200">{{cite book|title=Glimpses of the Justice System of Presidency Towns, 1687-1973|author=Mrinmaya Choudhuri|pages=200|year=2006|publisher=Daya Books|isbn=8189233327|id=}}</ref> Norton suggested that it was better to seek the opinion of the Bombay Bar over it and his suggestion was implemented.<ref name="presidency_judiciary_p200" />

Norton was a close friend of [[G. Subramania Iyer]], who founded ''[[The Hindu]]''.<ref name="thehindu_norton1" /> He wrote a column in ''The Hindu'' called "Olla Podrida" under the pseudonym Sentinel. This column ran from May 1889 to December 1889.<ref name="thehindu_norton1" /> Norton started the Indian Aluminium Company for the manufacture of utensils in 1900.<ref name="privateinvestmentp191">{{cite book|title=Private Investment in India, 1900-1939: Evolution of International Business, 1800-1945|pages=191|first=Amiya Kumar|last=Bagchi|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2000|isbn=0415190126|id=}}</ref><ref name="southernindia_p152">{{cite book|title=Southern India|last=Penny|first=F. E.|author2=Lady Lawley|publisher=A. C. Black|pages=152|year=1914}}</ref>

== Indian National Congress ==

Norton was associated with the Indian National Congress for about seven years from 1887 to early 1895. He participated in the 1887 session at Madras in the course of which he made a much acclaimed speech defending his support for Indian nationalists and association with the Congress.<ref name="besantp40">[[#Besant|Besant]], Pg 40</ref> He also gave a magnificent garden party for the visiting dignitaries, as did the Governor [[Robert Bourke, 1st Baron Connemara|Lord Connemara]] at Government House and the [[sheriff]] of Madras, [[S. Ramaswami Mudaliar]].<ref name="besantp51">[[#Besant|Besant]], Pg 51</ref> Norton attended the Allahabad Congress of 1888 and moved a resolution for simultaneous Civil Service examinations in England and India. He campaigned in England along with Dadabhai Naoroji and W. C. Bonnerjee for greater political rights for Indians and there they enlisted the support of Charles Bradlaugh, Member of British Parliament for Northampton. The three said Congressmen, along with William Digby created a UK chapter of the Indian National Congress.<ref name="indianevolutionp127">[[#Indian National Evolution|Indian National Evolution]], Pg 127</ref><ref name="indianevolutionp137">[[#Indian National Evolution|Indian National Evolution]], Pg 137</ref> Accordingly, the UK-wing came into existence in July 1889 under the leadership of Bradlaugh who was accorded the title "Member for India".<ref name="indianevolutionp128">[[#Indian National Evolution|Indian National Evolution]], Pg 128</ref> Norton was also part of the Congress' first deputation to England in 1889.<ref name="indianevolutionp136">[[#Indian National Evolution|Indian National Evolution]], Pg 136</ref> Norton attended the Bombay Congress of 1889 which came to be popularly called 'Bradlaugh Congress' because Bradlaugh attended it. In that Congress, he introduced the Madras scheme for reform of the Indian Legislative Councils and that scheme, due mainly to the efforts put by Bradlaugh and the Indian Congressmen, metamorphosed into the Indian Councils Act, 1892. Norton also participated in the tenth session of the Indian National Congress held in Madras in 1894.<ref name="besantp187">[[#Besant|Besant]], Pg 187</ref> A scandal of his adulterous affair with a married woman, who he married after her divorce from her husband, wrecked his Congress career. After resignation from the Congress in 1895, he only attended one Congress, the Madras Congress held in 1903, in which his participation was hardly significant.

== Death ==

Eardley died on 13 July 1931 at Bexley in Kent.<ref name="arsquatourcoronatorum">{{cite book|title=Ars Quatuor Coronatorum: Being the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, London|pages=256|publisher=W. J. Parre H, ltd.}}</ref>

== Legacy ==

Norton lived in Dunmore House in Alwarpet, Madras. He moved to Calcutta in 1906.

When he was called a 'veiled seditionist' for his association with the Indian National Congress, he responded to the charge in a hard-hitting speech in the Madras Congress of 1887:

{{quotation|If it be sedition, gentlemen, to rebel against all wrong, if it be sedition to insist that the people should have a fair share in the administration of their own country and affairs, if it be sedition to resist class tyranny, to raise my voice against oppression, to mutiny against injustice, to insist upon a hearing before sentence, to uphold the liberties of the individual, to vindicate our common right to gradual but ever advancing reform – if this be sedition. I am right glad to be called a seditionist; and doubly, aye trebly, glad when I look around me today to know and feel I am ranked as one among such a magnificent array of seditionists<ref name="inc">{{cite web|title=British Friends of India|url=http://www.aicc.org.in/british_friends_of_india.htm|publisher=[[Indian National Congress]]|access-date=14 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118070253/http://www.aicc.org.in/british_friends_of_india.htm|archive-date=18 November 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

== Notes ==

{{Reflist|30em}}

== References ==

* {{cite book|title=Indian National Evolution|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.201046|author=Amvika Charan Mazumdar|publisher=[[G. A. Natesan|G. A. Natesan and Co.]]|place=Madras|year=1917|ref=Indian National Evolution}}
* {{cite book | title=How India Wrought for freedom | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.201490 | last=Besant| first=Annie | author-link= Annie Besant| year=1915| publisher=Theosophical Publishing House| location=Adyar, Madras|ref=Besant}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, Eardley}}
[[Category:1852 births]]
[[Category:1931 deaths]]
[[Category:People of British India]]
[[Category:Alumni of Merton College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Members of the Imperial Legislative Council of India]]

Eardley Norton - Revision history

>BrownHairedGirl at 22:21, 5 May 2021