John Napoleon Norton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Norton (full name John Napoleon Norton; January 25, 1858 - April 9, 1916), was an English-born Australian journalist, editor and Member of the New South Wales Parliament. He was a writer and newspaper editor best known for his Sydney newspaper (or scandal-sheet) Truth (owned variously by William Nicholas Willis, a political aspirant who self-promoted in the publication, as well as Adolphus George Taylor and Patrick Crick). He was also an incorrigible alcoholic, said by one of his chauffeurs to have consumed in one of his binges about a dozen bottles of brandy and "Chartreuse wine" every two days.

Contents 1 Life 2 Parliamentary career 3 Wowser 4 Notes

[edit] Life

Norton was born in Brighton, Sussex, England, only son of John Norton, stonemason, who died before he was born, according to a document "purporting to be his birth-certificate".^[1]. His mother remarried Benjamin Herring, a silk-weaver, who allegedly mistreated his stepson. Norton migrated to Australia in 1884 and soon became chief reporter on the Evening News. In 1886, he went to trades union congresses in London and Paris as official delegate of the Trades and Labor Council of New South Wales. On his return, he became editor of the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners Advocate, but was sacked for drunkedness. He then joined the recently established Truth, which favoured exposé articles. He became part owner in 1891, but was sacked for repeated drunkedness. He acquired Truth in 1896 and it became even more abusive of public figures, leading to increased circulation and legal action including trials for criminal libel and sedition, which he generally managed to beat. He established editions of Truth in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia by 1903.

In 1897 Norton and Ada McGrath had a son and they married three weeks later. They had a daughter in 1907. They were juducially separated in 1915 on the grounds of Norton's drunkenness, cruelty and adultery.^[2]

[edit] Parliamentary career

Norton served for nearly 12 years in in the Legislative Assembly as member for Sydney-Fitzroy, from June to July 1898; Northumberland, from 1899 to 1901; Surry Hills, from 1904 to 1906; and Darling Harbour from 1907 to 1910. He was elected three times as a Sydney alderman between 1898 and 1906.^[3] He also ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1901 and 1906.

Starting poor, he died in Melbourne of kidney disease, one of the wealthiest Australians. Huge crowds attended his funeral at Sydney's South Head cemetry.^[2]

[edit] Wowser

Norton is generally considered (though this is disputed) the person who invented the Australian word 'wowser', meaning one whose overdeveloped sense of morality drives them to deprive others of their pleasures; a person regarded as excessively puritanical; a killjoy.

"I invented the word myself," he wrote. "I was the first man publicly to use the word. I first gave it public utterance in the City Council, when I applied it to Alderman Waterhouse, whom I referred to as the white, woolly, weary, watery, word-wasting wowser from Waverley."

[edit] Notes

Persondata
NAME	Norton, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Norton, John Napoleon
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Australian journalist and politician
DATE OF BIRTH	January 25, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH	Brighton, Sussex, England
DATE OF DEATH	April 9, 1916
PLACE OF DEATH	Melbourne, Australia