José Mendes Norton de Matos

José Maria Mendes Ribeiro Norton de Matos, GCTE, GCL (March 23, 1867 in Ponte de Lima, Portugal – January 3, 1955 in Ponte de Lima) was a Portuguese general and politician.

After attending college in Braga, and attending the Escola Académica in Lisbon in 1880, Norton de Matos became part of the mathematics faculty at the University of Coimbra in 1884. He later went to military school and, in 1898, departed for Portuguese India. There, he began his career in colonial administration.

Norton de Matos' return to Portugal coincided with the transformation of the political system of Portugal into a republic. He was prepared to serve the new regime, and he soon became the chief of staff of the 5th military division. In 1912 he gained the post of governor-general of Angola. His leadership was considered instrumental in protecting the Portuguese colony from foreign powers such as England, Germany and France.

Norton de Matos was recalled to Portugal in 1915 due to a new political situation that arose in Portugal during the First World War and named Minister of War. In this capacity, he was responsible for organizing the Portuguese intervention on the Western Front.

In 1917, Norton de Matos exiled himself to London after disagreements with the new republic. He later returned and became the Portuguese delegate to the Paris Peace Conference, which led to the Treaty of Versailles. Later he returned to Angola as High Commissioner of the Republic, from 1921 to 1923, before becoming Portuguese ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1923 to 1926. In 1929 he was elected a Grand Master of the Masons in Portugal.

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