As I don’t write James Norrington this is 100% extrapolated from details amassed over the years on Lawrence Norrington, his esteemed father whom I have occasionally NPC’d and whose fate I ended up designing for other reasons. I know far more about him than I do about his son as most of my experiences with James outside of canon have been various roleplayers who all have different Hot Takes.
Chances are Lawrence was contemporaries with the senior Lord Hamilton – and most assuredly with Admiral Hennessey. They’re all in roughly the same age group, with Lawrence arguably the youngest among them. While it is possible that Thomas and James interacted as children, the fact of the matter is distinguished though he might have been through battle and his nautical skills, Lawrence Norrington was a self made man who bore no titles and therefore is unlikely to have been in a position to place his son amid such esteemed peers at that time.
The only other possibility would be for them to meet at school – and by this point Lawrence would have enough of a name for himself and enough of a spare in his pocketbook to afford the best possible education for his only son, so this is the most likely window available – but also depends 100% on the portrayal of James himself, as I have seen him pressed by his own father as early as eight ( which is in keeping with the canon considering he was dragged pirate hunting when he was barely five! ) and I have seen him as an educated bastard who started his career somewhat later than most on account of an extended study period, with a grand sense of self importance and a dire need to impress others on account of his father, whose shadow he would always be at war with.
Ultimately I think there is argument for and against, so it would be up to you and whoever is playing him to figure out the best point for them to cross paths based on how that person in particular views James’ upbringing ( and lackthereof. )
Ocean Archive 