George Norton

Lieutenant-General Sir George Pemberton Ross Norton KCVO, CBE (born 27 November 1962) is a retired British Army officer. He was the UK Military Representative to NATO. He is now Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies.

This article is about the British Army officer. For the Irish rugby player, see George Norton (rugby union). For the British member of parliament, see George Chapple Norton. For the British accountant, see George P. Norton. For the American lyricist and composer, see George A. Norton.

Sir George Norton
Norton in 2010
Born27 November 1962[1]
Hammersmith, Greater London[2]
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1984–2020
RankLieutenant General
Service number513733
UnitGrenadier Guards
Commands heldHousehold Division
London District
38th (Irish) Brigade
1st Battalion Grenadier Guards
Battles/warsOperation Banner
War in Afghanistan
AwardsKnight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service
Bronze Star (United States)

Military career

After being educated at Radley and St John's College, Cambridge,[3] he studied at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards on 1 July 1984.[4] Promoted to captain on 27 November 1987,[5] he attended the Military Academy of the German Armed Forces in Hamburg in 1993[3] before being promoted to major on 30 September 1994.[6]

Norton was deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina as Military Assistant to the Chief of Staff within Headquarters IFOR in 1997[3] for which he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1998 New Year Honours.[7] Promoted to lieutenant colonel on 30 June 2000,[8] he joined the directing staff at the Joint Services Command and Staff College that year[3] and then became commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards in 2002.[3] Promoted to colonel on 30 June 2004,[9] he was deployed to Afghanistan as Director Plans and Policy within the Combined Forces Command Afghanistan during that year.[3]

Norton was appointed Secretary of the Chiefs of Staff Committee at the Ministry of Defence in 2005[10] and attended the Higher Command and Staff Course at the Staff College[3] before being deployed to Afghanistan again in early 2007 as Deputy Commander of Task Force Helmand and being advanced to Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his services there.[11]

Promoted to brigadier on 30 June 2007,[12] Norton went on to be Commander of 38th (Irish) Brigade[13] in Northern Ireland in June 2007[14] and Commander of British troops there in January 2009[15] before being made Deputy Regional Commander in Helmand Province in early 2010.[16]

Promoted to major general on 8 July 2011,[17] Norton became General Officer Commanding London District and Major-General commanding the Household Division on the same date.[18] He became regimental lieutenant colonel of the Grenadier Guards on 10 June 2012.[19] He was present at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June 2012[20] and the London Olympics in August 2012.[21]

Major General Norton was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on 25 June 2013[22] following an audience with Her Majesty The Queen.[23] Serving in Northern Italy, he went on to be Deputy Commander NATO Rapid Deployable Corps - Italy[3] in Solbiate Olona in July 2013.[23] He became the UK Military Representative to NATO on 20 May 2016,[24][25] and to the European Union in July 2016.[26] Norton retired from the British Army on 16 June 2020.[27]

Later career
Norton as Lieutenant of the Tower of London in 2022

Norton became Commandant Royal College of Defence Studies on 21 July 2020.[28]

On 20 August 2021, he was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London.[29]

Honours and awards
Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO)2013[22]
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)2007[11]
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)1997[7]
Bronze Star(United States)[30]
Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service2011[31]

References
  1. "Norton, Lt Gen. Sir George (Pemberton Ross) (born 27 Nov. 1962), Commandant, Royal College of Defence Studies, since 2020" in Who's Who, online edition, accessed 1 January 2023 (subscription required)
  2. "George PR Norton" in England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007, ancestry.com, accessed 1 January 2023 (subscription required)
  3. "Deputy Commander Rapid Deployable Corps Italy". Rapid Deployable Corps Italy. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  4. "No. 49904". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 October 1984. p. 14273.
  5. "No. 51136". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 November 1987. p. 14775.
  6. "No. 53807". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 October 1994. p. 13866.
  7. "No. 54993". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1997. p. 7.
  8. "No. 55901". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 July 2000. p. 7244.
  9. "No. 57494". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 December 2004. p. 15681.
  10. "Ministry of Defence Senior Appointments" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  11. "No. 58633". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 March 2008. p. 3612.
  12. "No. 58568". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 January 2008. p. 2.
  13. "Sergeants' (Past & Present) Club" (PDF). The Grenadier Gazette. 2009. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  14. "Army presence scaled back in Northern Ireland". The Independent. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  15. "Army's role in N.I. further downgraded". Defence Management Journal. 9 December 2008. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  16. "Afghanistan: Marjah battle not yet won". BBC News. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  17. "No. 59847". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 July 2011. p. 13224.
  18. "Court Circular 29 June 2011". Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  19. "No. 60169". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2012. p. 11209.
  20. "Commander of The Queen's Guards steps down". Royal Central. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  21. "Jennifer Jackson: From the bloody streets of Belfast to Iraq's front line". Belfasttelegraph. 9 January 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  22. "No. 60567". The London Gazette. 12 July 2013. p. 13804.
  23. "Commander of The Queen's Guards steps down". Royal Central. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  24. "Lieutenant General Sir George Norton KCVO CBE". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  25. "No. 61596". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2012. p. 12152.
  26. "Meet the old Radleians". Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  27. "No. 63045". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 July 2020. p. 11479.
  28. "Sir George Norton appointed as next Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS)". Ministry of Defence UK. London. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  29. "Crown Office | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk.
  30. "No. 57936". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 March 2006. p. 4198.
  31. "No. 59924". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 September 2011. p. 18716.

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