# John Norton, 5th Baron Grantley

John Richard Brinsley Norton, 5th Baron Grantley, FSA, FRNS (1 October 1855 – 5 August 1943), was a British peer from an English landowning family. He became known also as an antiquary and a numismatist.

## Early life

Norton was born in Florence, Italy, the son of Thomas Norton, 4th Baron Grantley and his wife, Maria, née Federigo, and a grandson of Caroline Norton, the writer. He was educated at Highgate School from 1867 until 1869, and then at Harrow School and the University of Dresden. He inherited his father's title in 1877 and was at some time a captain in the Middlesex Yeomanry.

## Estates

Grantley was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Royal Numismatic Society and the British Numismatic Society. His country seats were Weeke Manor in Winchester and Markenfield Hall in Ripon. He also owned Elton Manor in Nottinghamshire for a time, but seems hardly to have lived there. He purchased the Red Rice estate in 1913.

## Family

In 1879, Grantley married Katharine Buckner Norton, née McVickar (died 1897), the former wife of his cousin, Charles Grantley Campbell Norton. She was the daughter of Commodore William Henry McVickar, US Navy, of New York. They had six children.
* Hon. Joan Mary Conyers Norton (10 November 1879 – 22 July 1942), married 11 February 1903 Edmund Henry Bevan JP, of Hilston Park, Monmouthshire (died 3 November 1945), son of Thomas Bevan of Stone Park, Greenhithe, and had issue.
* Hon. Eleanour Trehane Norton (18 July 1881 – 16 March 1951)
* Hon. Winifred Chapple Norton (18 July 1881 – 11 July 1914), married 26 June 1907 William Galbraith Tennant, eldest son of John Tennant, of The Boltons, London, and had issue.
* Hon. Katharine Edith Carlotta Norton (18 December 1883 – 9 February 1961)
* Hon. [unnamed] Norton (born and died 25 January 1889)
* Hon. Richard Henry Brinsley Norton, later 6th Baron Grantley (1892-1954)
He married secondly, in 1899, Alice Jones, also known as Alice Edwards (died 1942), the illegitimate daughter of Thomas Jones, 7th Viscount Ranelagh. Alice had been married to Grantley's friend, barrister Clement Martin Le Breton - the brother of actress Lillie Langtry. The couple's affair led to Le Breton successfully petitioning for a divorce in 1898. The divorce case made the news; Grantley and Alice married shortly after the divorce was granted.
On Grantley's death in 1943, his titles passed to his only surviving son, Richard Henry Brinsley Norton (6th Lord Grantley), a film-maker and husband of Jean Mary Kinloch.

## Arms

Coat of arms of John Norton, 5th Baron Grantley :
* CrestA Moor's Head affrontée couped at the shoulders wreathed round the temples with Laurel proper and around the neck a Torse Argent and Azure
* EscutcheonAzure a Maunch Ermine surmounted by a Bend Gules
* SupportersDexter: a Lion; Sinister: a Griffin, both Argent and ducally gorged Or and pendent from the coronets by a Ribbon Gules a Shield of the Arms of Norton
* MottoAvi Numerantur Avorum (I follow a long line of ancestry)

## Sources

* Obituary – The Times, 6 August 1943
* ↑ Ed. Boreham, J. Y. Highgate School Register 1838–1938 (4th ed.). p. 56.
* ↑ Hesilrige 1921, p. 417.
* ↑ "Lord Grantley – Obituary" (PDF). London: The British Numismatic Society. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
* ↑ Lord Grantley: Silver Spoon: being extracts from the random reminiscences of Lord Grantley (London: Hutchinson, 1954), p. 17.
* ↑ Alice married her first husband as Alice Edwards (marriages at St Peter's, Pimlico, 20 August 1877), but on her second marriage, her name was given as Alice Le Breton, formerly Alice Jones.
* ↑ Divorce File 19996, appellant Clement Le Breton, respondent Alice Le Breton, co-respondent John Richard Brinsley Norton Grantley, Baron Grantley (The National Archives, J77/656/19996)
* ↑ Liverpool Weekly Courier, 11 March 1899, page 2; marriage of John R B Grantley (Baron) and Alice Le Breton or Alice Jones, Westminster, September 1899 (vol 1a, page 1267).
* ↑ Latin Dictionary. Retrieved 30 October 2020.