He was born near Nowra to surveyor Henry Gordon Morton and Jane, née Fairlies.
He attended Numbaa Public School and Hurstville College in Goulburn before working on the bridge over the Shoalhaven River at Nowra.
From a political family, his brothers Philip and Henry and his nephew Pat also served in the New South Wales Parliament, while his brother-in-law George Fuller was Premier.
[1] In 1901, he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Liberal member for Shoalhaven.
By the time proportional representation was introduced in 1920, Morton was a Nationalist, but he failed to win a seat until 1922, when he was elected as one of the members for Wollondilly.