Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Norton, Sampson
NORTON, Sir SAMPSON (d. 1517), surveyor of the ordnance and marshal of Tournay, was related to the Norton family of Yorkshire, a member of which, a rebel of 1569, was called Sampson Norton. He was early engaged in the service of Edward IV, and was knighted in Brittany by Lord Brooke about 1483, probably during the preparation for war caused by the English dislike of the Franco-Burgundian alliance. In 1486 he was custumer at Southampton, and 6 Aug. 1486 was appointed a commissioner to inquire what wool and woolfels were exported from Chichester without the king's license. The same year he received the manor of Tarrant Launceston in Dorset in tail male. Machado met him in Brittany in 1490. He was also serjeant-porter of Calais, and in office during the affair of John Flamank and Sir Hugh Conway [see Nanfan, Sir Richard]. In 1492 he was one of those who received the French ambassadors in connection with the Treaty of Etaples. In 1494 he was present at the tournaments held when Prince Henry was created a knight. On 10 April 1495 he became constable of Flint Castle, and the office was renewed to him on 23 Jan. 1508–1509. In 1509 he was created chamberlain of North Wales. He distinguished himself in Henry VIII's French wars, holding, as he had held under Henry VII, the office of surveyor of the ordnance—an important position, involving the control of a number of clerks and servants. He may have been a yeoman of the guard in 1511. In 1512 he was taken prisoner at Arras, and after some difficulty was set free. In February 1514–5 he was marshal of Tournay, and was nearly killed in a mutiny of the soldiers, who wanted their pay. On 11 Sept. 1516 he became chamberlain of the exchequer. Norton died 8 Feb. 1516–17, and was buried at All Saints, Fulham, where there was a monument with an inscription, now defaced. He married an illegitimate daughter of Lord Zouche. Another Sampson Norton was a vintner in Calais in 1528, and his house was assigned to the French for lodgings in 1532.
[Letters &c., Richard III and Hen. VII, ed. Gairdner (Rolls Ser.), i. 231, 238, 404; Mater. for Hist. of Hen. VII, ed. Campbell (Rolls Ser.), i. 439, 524, ii. 409, 532, 562; Memorials of Hen. VII, ed. Gairdner (Rolls Ser.), pp. 376, 382; Chron. of Calais (Camd. Soc.); Letters and Papers Hen. VIII, 1509–17; Notes and Queries, 7th ser. viii. 9, 133, 215; Hutchins's Dorset.]