James Landsdowne Norton
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- James Lansdown Norton founded the company of “Norton” at the age of 29, The premises where initially located at 320 Bradford Street, Birmingham.
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Birmingham is the UK’s second largest city and was at one point in time known as the “Workshop of the World” or the “City of 1,000 Trades”
James founded the company using his engineering skills, that he had developed at an early age from his father who was a British cabinet maker.
Norton was a toolmaker with deeply religious beliefs and very high standards.
Norton initially specialised in “fittings and parts for the two-wheel trade”.
When Norton was 19, he suffered from severe rheumatic fever. He recovered from the fever, but his health continued to deteriorate, ageing him prematurely.
James developed the nickname ‘Pa’ as in Grandpa and this stuck with him in his later years before he died at the age of 56.
Despite his early death, James was still able to celebrate some of Norton’s early successes.
It took the company until 1902 to start producing motorcycles, although they were using bought-in engines from elsewhere; it was a further three years before they produced their own engine.
Norton initially began building motorcycles with French and Swiss engines.
In April 1907 the Norton Manufacturing Co. moved to a larger factory at Deritend Bridge, Floodgate Street, Birmingham.
The first Norton engines were made in 1907, with models available from 1908. These were the 3.5 hp (490 cc) and the 'Big 4' (633cc), beginning a line of side-valve single-cylinder engines which continued with few changes until the late 1950s.
The first Norton logo was a fairly simple, art nouveau design, with the name spelled in capitals.
However, a new logo appeared on the front of the catalogue for 1914, which was a joint effort by James Norton and his daughter Ethel.
It became known as the "curly N" logo, with only the initial letter as a capital, and was used by the company thereafter, first appearing on actual motorcycles in 1915.
The first ever Isle of Man TT twin cylinder class race in 1907 was won riding a Norton by Rem Fowler.
During the second world war, Norton withdrew from racing and contributed to the war by manufacturing around 100,000 sidevalve motorcycles, which accounted for almost a quarter of all military motorcycles.
In 1949, they introduced the twin cylinder Norton Dominator and a Featherbed frame in 1950.
This frame was strong, but also lightweight, which gave Norton’s an advantage in the twists and turns of the Isle of Man track - leading to even more race successes.
Geoff Duke rode Norton into victory in 1952 and was crowned world champion in both the 350cc and 500cc classes leading to his OBE.
The world famous Norton Commando model was introduced at the 1968 Earls Court Motor Show and over 500,000 were produced in the following decade.
Its styling, innovative isolastic frame and powerful engine made it an appealing package.
The Commando easily outperformed contemporary Triumph and BSA twins and was the most powerful and best-handling British motorcycle of its day.
However, with increased competition coming in from Japan in the 1970s, the last Commando of its time was produced in 1976.
Over the years, Norton went through a series of owners before the brand relaunched in 1989 when they brought back their TT success.
Norton was then relaunched again in 2008 when Stuart Garner, a UK businessman, bought the rights to Norton from US concerns moving it back to its Midlands Home at Donnington Hall near the village of Castle Donnington.
Norton Motorcycles fell into administration in January 2020 due to large debts, sadly leading to financial failure (coupled with some tabloid controversy for Stuart Garner).
But in April 2020, Indian Manufacturer, TVS Motor Company, entered an all-cash deal of £16m to acquire certain assets of Norton Motorcycles with the aim to bring Norton back to its iconic glory.
Sudarshan Venu, TVS Motor’s joint MD, has declared his intentions to maintain Norton’s distinctive identity whilst expanding into new markets.
As the 6th largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world, TVS Motor Company provided the strong foundations for the brand to grow and the resources to return the Norton brand to the world stage.
It didn't take long for the positive control of TVS to take effect and for the brand to be seen in a positive light once again.
In early 2021 TVS Motor Company made a historic move, ejecting the brand from Castle Donnington and moving it to a new base; Solar Park in Solihull.
Norton created 50 jobs in the opening of the factory and the vision for the state of the art facility was for it to be a long-term home to set foundations for the new world class standards they are delivering.
James Landsdowne Norton is buried at Lodge Hill Cemetery and Crematorium in Selly Oak, Birmingham.
I will checkout graveyard sisters
Bless them. Thank u...there are 2 of them... and one of the ladies first video was today..... bless her.... plz show the channel some love...thank u 🙏
@@johnosgraveyardjaunts2235 done. And told her you sent me
@@GenerationsFound thank you 😊 🙏
Great video thank you for sharing 😀
Thank u kindly 🙏 ☺️
What an awesome cemetery. Thanks for the video.
Beautiful Cemetery..Alot of the Cadbury's Chocolate Family are buried here also 😋
Amazing tribute to him. Really enjoyed this. Well done Johno and thank you for sharing. 🙏☺️
Thank you sweet...appreciate your kind words 🙏 😊 well done on your over 200 Subs beautiful...give ur Channel a shout out on my next video 📹 😀
@@johnosgraveyardjaunts2235 🙏☺️👍
Great video. Thanks for sharing. 👍 😊
Thank u
Excellent tribute video 👍👍 well done indeed, I believe Mr Norton would be very happy with this 👍👍
Beautiful bikes, I won’t lie I’d love to have one of the military ones myself 👍👍👍
I did find a 1932 16H 500sv for only 15,000 pounds or 18700 US dollars, it’s in excellent shape 👍
Thanks Jim... I love the burble of the Dominator in the video....when tge rider gives it some welly...hope all is well Jim. 😀
all caught up loving all your vids Johnno ❤
You will LOVE the next one x
@@johnosgraveyardjaunts2235 can't wait ❤
@cemeteriesdownunder9247 Hope you are both well..stay safe and enjoy the ride that is life ❤️
Geez he died young , great Tribute to Mr Norton , loved the cemetery looks very creepy and Haunted, I really appreciate all the work and information you put in your videos xx well done 👏
@@johnosgraveyardjaunts2235 we are well busy working this year so just doing what I can between work xx
Lee your hero 😮
Thank u
Thank you soooooo sooo much 😊 awesome video,didn't know that about Keanu.Audrey has a huge crush on him 😄 really awesome and informative video 😊 sorry for late reply,im trying to catch up with everything I've missed cos I've been unwell meant to leave a better comment than I did lol x
Its a beautiful Cemetery with some amazing Headstones 🪦
Great! when I was in the Midlands, I saw many Norton around and I did not the interesting history about it
Cheers...Such an Iconic Brand ✨️
Good morning freenre
Hi..hope you enjoyed the video...if so....please Like, Subscribe and Comment on the Channel...it is completely free 😀