John D'Arcy Norton OMT (1918-1922)
The school has been delighted to receive a wonderful bequest from the family of John D’Arcy Norton which charts an impressive sporting career at the school and for OMT. It is rare to receive items such as caps and badges, so this represents a significant legacy for the Archive.
John D’Arcy Norton joined the school at Charterhouse Square in the momentous year of 1918. His time at school was marked by outstanding success on the sports field, appearing in the First XI for four years and captaining it in his final year. An attacking batsman and ‘energetic captain’, the Taylorian praised the spending variety of strokes and an increasingly solid defence.
D’Arcy Norton was also a key member of the First XV, gaining colours over four consecutive years where he distinguished himself by his versatility as a back, playing scrum half before moving to fly half in his final season at the School. The Taylorian praised his speed and his ability to open up defences as well as his defensive kicking, noting a particularly strong performance against long-term rivals St. Paul’s in his final year.
The significant donation to the school’s archives contains numerous artefacts associated with his school career, notably his caps, badges and medals from school athletics meetings. Although the archive has individual examples of caps and medals, the combination of all these artefacts associated with a single pupil makes this a significant treasure. The collection also has an OTC certificate of training and a photo of MTS boys attending camp.
Like many of his peers, D’Arcy Norton went on to represent the OMT, particularly in rugby and there are several photos and hatbands from this part of his career. One particular photo shows the Easter tour of 1926 and the OMT XV of the same year, notable for the leadership of England and British Lions captain Ronald Cove-Smith.
From about 1927 to 1935 he lived and worked in the far-east, mostly in Formosa but also as an agent (for various businesses) in Japan. He apparently assembled and coached a rugby team in Formosa amongst other activities. He worked hard to make enough of a career to send for his beloved. She travelled out to marry him and a daughter was born in Formosa in 1932. Legend has it that she was dangled on Chiang Kai-shek's knee. He went on to follow a career in law and became a barrister specialising in commercial and industrial cases, before retiring in 1969. A staunch supporter of the OMT Society, another item in the collection is a menu from the Earliest Vintage lunch of 1983.
We are grateful to the family of John D’Arcy Norton, particularly his granddaughter Lucy Brownlee, for this wonderful addition to the School Archive.