TILLEY
with roots in Somerset, England
family
the
Norton Lawrence Murdoch
Norton was born in São Paulo, Brazil on 19 February 1935. His father Hugh Cyril Murdoch was a textile engineer from Manchester and his mother Frances Winifred (née Tilley), from Wiltshire, tutored the children of the wealthy Brazilian coffee barons in the late 1920s. After initial schooling in Brazil Norton followed in the footsteps of his Wiltshire farmer uncles and went to Dauntsey’s in 1948 under Mr Olive as headmaster. Norton excelled at maths, chemistry and particularly physics.
After Dauntsey’s he joined Marconi’s (the radio pioneers) as an apprentice and when called up to National Service, joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), earning his master’s degree as an Electrical Engineer at Shrivenham Officer’s Academy.
Norton, together with his wife Ruth, was posted to Malaysia. Later he was posted to Germany where their first child, Timothy, was born, followed by Sarah a couple of years later.
Norton worked in the development and research of night vision for the armed forces and was stationed in the Hebrides during this time. He was a prominent member of the OCU – Officers Christian Union and founded the movement in the Brazilian armed forces maintaining strong ties in numerous Christian military unions worldwide.
During a state visit to Britain by the Brazilian President of the Republic General Geisel in 1977, Norton was given the task of interpreting for the Geisel family members at the State Dinner at Buckingham Palace in the presence of the Queen.
Norton loved his old school and in latter years served on the Old Dauntseians’ Association Committee and was appointed secretary in 2000 and then chairman in 2004.
Norton, who died on 7 November 2011, left a son, a daughter and five grandchildren.
Norton Lawrence Murdoch, aged 21 in 1956.
Norton Murdoch in uniform.
Norton’s father, Hugh Cyril Murdoch, married Frances Winifred Tilley and after her death her sister Anna Joan.
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Norton (back right) with his father Hugh Cyril Murdoch and his half brother and sister, Hugh and Gillian, in 1943.
Norton Murdoch (left) as ODA secretary with visitors to Dauntsey's in 2002.
![Norton (standing centre) with his stepmother Anna Joan [Tilley] and father Hugh Cyril Murdoch as well as his half-sister Gillian, Jake Vowles (son of Naomi [Tilley]) and his half-brother Hugh](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ffca98_9ea20d5eeea347f481232b1a280d4501~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_426,h_532,al_c,lg_1,q_80,enc_avif,quality_auto/Anna%20Joan%20Murdoch%2C%20Hugh%20Cyril%20Murdoch%2C%20Norton%2C%20Gillian%20Murdoch%2C%20Jake%20Vowles%20(Naomi%C2%B4s%20son)%2C.jpg)
Norton (standing centre) with his stepmother Anna Joan [Tilley] and father Hugh Cyril Murdoch as well as his half-sister Gillian, Jake Vowles (son of Naomi [Tilley]) and his half-brother Hugh.
Norton (right) with his half brother and sister, Hugh and Gillian, in the United States in 1995.
Gillian with her husband Roddy Govier and their children Matthew, Thomas and Jonathan.
Memories
“In the early 1970s Norton, who was a Major in the British Army, went to renew his Brazilian passport at the Brazilian Consulate in London, as was customary, and was told his Brazilian Nationality had been withdrawn because he was serving in a foreign military armed forces and that he would no longer hold a Brazilian passport. Not only that, but he was as of that moment, a Persona Non Grata to Brazil.
In 1976, President General Ernesto Giesel (one of Brazil’s dictators) was on a full State Visit to the UK which included a full State Banquet at Buckingham Palace. Ironically, the Brazilian Foreign Office invited Norton (Persona Non Grata) to join the President’s party and act as interpreter for his adult daughter. So Norton was present at the State Dinner at Buckingham Palace one evening.
To top off the party, President Giesel thanked Norton personally as they left the palace and asked whether there was anything he could do for Norton. Norton explained that his mum and dad lived in São Paulo and would love to receive some real English Colman’s Mustard which was impossible to purchase in Brazil. Consider it done, said Giesel. Lo and behold, a week or so later two of his henchmen knocked on the door of his parents’ flat in São Paulo and presented them with two small tins of Colman’s Mustard. Powder form in those days.”
Hugh Murdoch in the Brazilian Army (1961 military service).
Hugh Murdoch with his wife Joanne (Josephine Anne).