Richard Norton (19 November 1615 – May 1691), of Southwick Park, was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1645 and 1691.
Norton is said to have distinguished himself in the Battle of Cheriton by bringing up a body of horse through by-ways, from his hunting knowledge of the country, to charge the rear of the enemy.
Oliver Cromwell was on familiar and intimate terms with him, addresses letters to him thus: "For my noble Friend, Colonel Richard Norton.
[9] In 1660, he was elected MP for Hampshire again in the Convention Parliament which invited Charles II to return to his kingdom, and immediately upon the restoration Colonel Norton was once more appointed "Captain of the Town, Isle and Castle of Portsmouth".
By his first wife, Anne, daughter of Walter Earle, of Cherborough, Dorset, a well-known Parliamentarian, he was father of Daniel Norton, who, dying in the lifetime of the Colonel, left an only son, Richard, who succeeded to the Southwick estates.
He married Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Noel, Earl of Gainsborough, sometime Governor of Portsmouth, but died in 1732 without issue.