Born in Devonshire, England in 1896, Norman served with the British Expeditionary Forces during World War I and earned the Military Medal and the 1914-15 Star. He came to Canada in 1920 and served with the Oshawa Police and was a Detective with the Canadian National Railway, prior to his appointment to the Ontario Provincial Police on November 29, 1922. 

He started at the Belleville Detachment and was transferred to the Peterborough Detachment in 1924. 

Commissioner General Williams chose Norman as one of the two officers to act as special escorts to the Prince of Wales during the official opening of the new International Peace Bridge on August 7, 1927 between Canada and the United States.

On May 3, 1928, Norman and the local Provincial Officer under the Ontario Temperance Act were called to the downtown Montgomery House Hotel, about a man threatening people with a gun. When the officers confronted the suspect he ran up a flight of stairs to his room. As the officers followed up the stairs the suspect emerged from his room pulled his concealed handgun shooting and killing Norman and wounding the Provincial Officer who were both attempting to flee down the staircase. Norman was the third O.P.P. officer killed in the line of duty. 

At the time of his death, Norman was survived by his wife Muriel and their two daughters, Norma age 3, and Connie age 3 months.